Ashfaq Majeed Wani: Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}

{{short description|Separatist militant leader of JKLF from Srinagar, India}}

| name             = Ashfaq Majeed Wani

| successor3       = [[Yasin Malik]]

| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1966|09|05|df=yes}}

| birth_place     = [[Srinagar]], India

| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1990|03|30|1966|09|05|df=yes}}

| death_place     = Srinagar, India

| alma_mater      = [[Sri Pratap College]] <br /> [[University of Kashmir]]

| party           = [[Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front|JKLF]]

| profession       = [[Commander-in-chief]] of [[Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front|JKLF]]

'''Ashfaq Majeed Wani''' (5 September 1966 – 30 March 1990)<ref>{{cite book |last=Bose |first=Sumantra |title=Kashmir: Roots of Conflict, Paths to Peace |url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674018174 |year=2005 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-01817-4 |pages=103}}</ref> was the first Commander in Chief of the [[Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front]], a militant [[Kashmiri nationalism|Kashmiri-separatist]] group in [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]], [[India]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/protests-over-burhan-wani-s-death-a-redux-of-1990/story-1Knh49y4nGxK8JFVVjFrmL.html |title=From Ashfaq Majid Wani to Burhan Wani: Are protests in Kashmir a redux of 1990? |date=11 July 2016 |work=[[Hindustan Times]] |language=en |access-date=18 February 2019}}</ref> He was killed by [[Indian Paramilitary forces|Indian Paramilitary Forces]] in 1990 at the age of 24.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/kashmir/ashfaq-majeed-wani-remembered/143015.html |title=Ashfaq Majeed Wani remembered |date=14 March 2015}}</ref> He was allegedly involved in the [[1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed|kidnapping of Rubiya Sayed]],<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/14-yrs-down-JKLF-admits-Rubaiya-kidnap/articleshow/484093.cms? |title=14 yrs down, JKLF admits Rubaiya kidnap – Times of India |work=The Times of India |access-date=31 January 2018}}</ref> daughter of [[Mufti Mohammad Sayeed|Mufti Mohammed Sayeed]], the then [[Home Minister of India]].

== Biography ==

Ashfaq Majeed Wani was born on 5 September 1966 in the Sarai Balla area of [[Srinagar]], [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]] into a [[Kashmiri Muslim]] family. He studied at [[Tyndale Biscoe School]] and later went to [[Sri Pratap College]] and the [[University of Kashmir]]. When he was a teenager, sports were an important part of his life. He was a dedicated soccer player, a marathon runner, and a table tennis player, winning first prize in the interstate marathon tournament in 1985 and being selected to represent the state. "The Iranian revolution had left an indelible mark on him, after studying the literature about it. It had become a motif of resistance to him. Besides, he had become very disillusioned with the political scenario prevailing at the time, which favored the Indian suzerainty. He viewed the [[Instrument of Accession (Jammu and Kashmir)|accession to India]] as a yoke of slavery," said his father. His mother recalled "The Principal of the Biscoe School summoned us one day and informed that even though Ashfaq was a brilliant student and an athlete of repute, he possessed leanings quite uncommon in teenagers".<ref name=clay>{{Cite news |title=Ashfaq Majid: the raw clay of resistance |first=Mohsin |last=Hyder Ali |work=Kashmir Dispatch |location=Srinagar |date=30 March 2011 |url=http://kashmirdispatch.com/2011/03/30/ishfaq-majid-the-raw-clay-of-resistance/102536/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401210634/http://kashmirdispatch.com/2011/03/30/ishfaq-majid-the-raw-clay-of-resistance/102536/ |archive-date=1 April 2016}}</ref>

At the age of 14, Wani refused to accompany his family members in the funeral procession of [[Sheikh Abdullah]], an early sign of what was to form a part of his ideology. Two years later he began organizing anti-India rallies.<ref name=clay /> By 1987, he was already on the radar of Indian intelligence agencies. He was arrested on 23 March 1987 for his involvement with the Muslim United Front, which took part in [[1987 Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election|elections]], was imprisoned at the Central Jail, Srinagar. Hundreds of other opposition activists have also arrested in police crackdowns across Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir. He was released on parole after nine months, to attend his uncle's wedding. His period in prison had made him bitter and he was found to have cigarette burns all over his body.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ghosts of empire: Britain's legacies in the modern world. |publisher=Public Affairs |isbn=978-1-61039-232-7 |location=New York |date=2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=32PEIn8bK3IC&pg=PA138}}</ref> After his release, Wani worked on the plans towards the procurement of arms from Pakistan-administrated Kashmir. A day before he left for Pakistan-administrated Kashmir while serving meals at the wedding reception, he overheard Mohiuddin Shah, a veteran National Conference politician talking about the futility of agitations against the government. Wani is known to have reprimanded him in these words "the government made two grave mistakes as far as Kashmir is concerned. First, they acceded to India and secondly, they let me on parole."<ref name=clay />

Wani subsequently crossed into [[Pakistan-occupied Kashmir|Pakistan-Administrated Kashmir]] to obtain arms training under the supervision of the [[Pakistan Army]]. Many Kashmiris in the valley joined [[Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front|JKLF]] and obtained training and financial support in Pakistan and in [[Pakistan-occupied Kashmir|Pakistan Administrated Kashmir]]. Most returned to [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Indian Kashmir]] and the majority of them were killed by the [[Indian Army]] and [[Indian Paramilitary forces|Indian Paramilitary Forces]].

Growing up in the Sarai Balla lanes of Srinagar city, Wani, was a science student studying at Shri Pratap Higher Secondary School, when he founded Islamic Students League with the help of other like-minded friends. Soon, he rose up in his circle and became area commander of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front in 1988.Often refused to take refuge inside houses he would sleep inside pipes at Idgah on many occasions.

Wani was killed at the age of 23, in an encounter with Indian paramilitary troops and an army unit in the Hawwal area of the old city Srinagar on 30 March 1990.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Film on Ashfaq Majeed Wani |date=30 March 2011 |url=https://thekashmirwalla.com/2011/03/a-film-on-ashfaq-majeed-wani/ }}</ref>

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==

* {{citation |last=Jamal |first=Arif |title=Shadow War: The Untold Story of Jihad in Kashmir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TNO5MAAACAAJ |year=2009 |publisher=Melville House |isbn=978-1-933633-59-6 |ref={{sfnref|Jamal, Shadow War|2009}}}}

* {{citation |last=Swami |first=Praveen |authorlink=Praveen Swami |title=India, Pakistan and the Secret Jihad: The covert war in Kashmir, 1947–2004 |series=Asian Security Studies |publisher=Routledge |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z2l9AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA175 |isbn=978-0-415-40459-4 |ref={{sfnref|Swami, India, Pakistan and the Secret Jihad|2007}}}}