Early Life
Although the month of July holds unique significance for the entire Jammu and Kashmir, for the Pakistan-administered part, it comes with two major anniversaries. It marks anniversaries of two of the region’s most influential political figures—Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan and Sardar Abdul Qayyum.
Sardar Ibrahim is often credited with passing the Accession to Pakistan Resolution on July 19, 1947, at his Abi Guzar locality in the heart of Srinagar. However, this resolution has long been the subject of political and legal debate. A closer look at Ibrahim’s life reveals a more nuanced and complex figure than popular narratives suggest.
Sardar Ibrahim began his early education from Hurnamaira, located 4 miles away from his native village but moved to Poonch town for higher studies, enrolling in a boarding school where he completed his matriculation in 1933.
Recalling the turbulence of the time, he writes in his memoir Mataa-e-Zindagi:
“In 1931, a revolution erupted in Kashmir. I don’t remember how it started, but I do remember that Hindus fled their villages and swarmed into Poonch town. There was no space to breathe. Our school building was handed over to the Hindu refugees. Our Raja and his ministers had taken shelter in the fort, and the Muslim students, including myself, took it upon ourselves to guard the entire town. I was so emboldened by this that I surprised myself, for among the Muslim boys, I was considered the ‘commander’.”
After matriculating, Ibrahim graduated from Islamia College in Lahore. Though politically curious, he remained distant from direct activism during his student days. Eventually, he enrolled at Cambridge for an LLB. The funding for this was only secured after a year-long effort by the Raja of Poonch, who convinced the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir that investing in educated locals would negate the need to bring officials from Jammu or Srinagar.
Education in London
Ibrahim wrote that his four-year legal education in London cost 10,000 rupees and would have been cheaper if not for the inflation caused by World War II.
During his time in England, he lived through wartime hardships and gained a close view of Jewish refugees. He remarked:
“There is no doubt that the Jews might be the most intelligent people on Earth. They portray themselves as victims, and while they are highly intelligent, they are equally self-centred. If any other group could rival their traits, it would be the Kashmiri Pandits.”
On his return journey to South Asia, he even acted in a New Year’s play aboard the ship, earning applause for his performance.
Back home, employment was initially difficult to find. Eventually, the acting Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Kailash Narayan, appointed him as a government lawyer. He served first in Mirpur and later as Assistant Advocate General in Jammu. But disillusioned by Maharaja Hari Singh's discriminatory attitude, Ibrahim resigned in September 1946 and joined the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference. That same year, he successfully contested the elections from Sudhnoti Bagh.
He resumed legal practice in Jammu, moving there with his family, but shifted to Srinagar for the summer. As the Partition plan emerged, it was at his house that the Muslim Conference is believed to have passed the historic resolution to accede to Pakistan. This prompted the Dogra army to seek his arrest, forcing him into hiding in the forests. During this time, his second son was born, though he had already moved to Poonch, leaving his wife and children in Srinagar, who later joined him.
Sardar Ibrahim as President
On October 24, 1947, Sardar Ibrahim was declared President of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of Jammu and Kashmir. Later, he was sent to the United Nations Security Council, accompanied by Dr Mohammad Din Taseer as secretary.
Unfortunately, Ibrahim could not effectively present his case.
Reflecting on this and Sheikh Abdullah’s UN appearance and 1964 visit to Pakistan, Ibrahim wrote in Mataa-e-Zindagi:
“Pakistan’s greatest misfortune has been its consistent refusal to involve Kashmiri leaders in key decisions. I hesitate to say this, but I must: since the era of Ghulam Muhammad Gormani as Minister for Kashmir Affairs, it has been the ministry’s policy to keep Kashmiri leaders embroiled in internal disputes. Perhaps this is why Pakistan has made no constructive contribution to the Kashmir freedom movement. This thought has always pained me—and always will.”
Sardar Ibrahim served multiple terms as President of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. During his first tenure, he not only represented Kashmir at the UN but also signed the controversial Karachi Agreement, which transferred major administrative powers from the regional government to Pakistan.
Journalist Hamid Mir alleges the signature on the agreement was forged, though Ibrahim’s political successors vehemently defend it. Not long after the agreement, he was removed from office, sparking a rebellion in Poonch and demands for voting rights—acknowledged verbally but never implemented.
Ironically, Ibrahim later accepted reappointment as President at Pakistan’s behest, only to be removed again after Ayub Khan’s imposition of martial law. Under the 1974 Act, he was once again elected president, a role he reprised in 1996.
Kashmir as a country
He authored three books: Mataa-e-Zindagi, Kashmir Ki Jang-e-Azadi, and Kashmir Saga. All three reflect on the pre-Partition history, the 1947 provisional government, and the accession resolution. However, they make only cursory mention of the Karachi Agreement, local uprisings, and governance frameworks like the 1970 and 1974 Acts.
He neither elaborated on these in his writings nor publicly addressed them—perhaps considering them irrelevant, or perhaps choosing to omit what he saw as darker chapters.
One brief reference in Mataa-e-Zindagi mentions the 1955 uprising:
“The movement was ongoing, but I moved to Rawalpindi in search of livelihood and began legal practice, which I abandoned soon after.”
All three books were published in the 1960s, though a 1990 edition of Kashmir Saga included a new chapter titled "Kashmir as a Country". There, Ibrahim proposed that the region become a buffer state between India and Pakistan—a neutral Switzerland of South Asia—offering a path to lasting peace.
This chapter suggests a shift in his thinking. While his early years were shaped by a vision of accession to Pakistan, his later reflections seem to favour an independent Jammu and Kashmir. Perhaps this was the distilled wisdom of a lifetime of political struggle. Yet, his followers remain unwilling even to acknowledge this evolution, choosing instead to loudly defend his early positions on accession and the Karachi Agreement, while ignoring his final vision.
Sardar Ibrahim passed away on July 31, 2003, at the age of 88. Each year, his death anniversary marks the close of a month filled with Kashmir’s most defining commemorations. In many ways, the end of July is symbolic—a farewell not just to a towering figure but to a complex chapter in Kashmir’s ongoing story.
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