Shabir Shah

Birth and childhood

Born in a middle class business family of South Kashmir’s Kadipora town in district Anantnag on June 14, 1953, Shabir Ahmad Shah did his early schooling at Government Middle School, Sarnal, Anantnag and passed higher secondary examination from M.I. Higher Secondary School, Anantnag but could not continue his studies due to affiliation with various students’ leagues for which was jailed at very early age.

Shah’s father Ghulam Mohammad Shah, who was a Block Development Officer who died in police custody in 1989 after being repeatedly harassed by security agencies following Shabir Shah’s political affiliations.

From Young Men’s League to People’s League

Shah’s political career began in 1968 when at the age of 14, he led a demonstration against Indian government in Kashmir following which he was arrested and was kept in police lockup for three months. Soon Shabir Shah and his colleagues formed the Young Men’s League. He along with the league activists were arrested time and again which affected Shah’s education. During his confinement in Central Jail Srinagar, Shah met several resistance leaders including Nazir Ahmad Wani (Al-Fateh), Abdul Majid Pathan (Youth League), Altaf Khan alias Azam Inquilabi (Students Islamic Organization) and other leaders like Ghulam Qadir Hagroo with whom he discussed future plans for fighting for the right to self-determination. While Shabir Shah was still in jail, his associates Nazir Ahmad Wani, S. Hamid, Fazal Haq Qureshi, Abdul Majid Pathan and others formed the Jammu and Kashmir People’s League on October 3, 1974, with Nazir Ahmad Wani as its Chairman and Abdul Majid its General Secretary. This newly formed organization tool strong exception to the Indra-Abdullah Accord (1975) and organized rallies throughout the State. Formation of Jammu Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party

Imprisonment

Shabir Shah was jailed for the first time in 1968, when he was aged 14, for organizing and leading a student demonstration to press the demand for the right of self-determination for the people of Kashmir. He was arrested and jailed for 3 months and 15 days in Srinagar’s Central Jail, thus began his jail journey and has been in and out of jail and under house arrest ever since. Immediately after his release, he resumed his political activities by forming Young Men’s League along with his colleagues for which he was arrested at Anantnag and was detained for 8 months in Srinagar’s Central Jail. After he was released, he was arrested again in 1971 on the allegation of being a core pro-Pakistan activist and was detained without any trial in the district police lines at Anantnag for 7 months.

In 1972, Shah organized demonstrations against Hindu fundamentalists in Jammu and was arrested under Defence of Indian Rules Act (DIR) and detained in Central Jail, Srinagar for eleven months. During this period, the political scenario of sub-continent was going through a new metamorphosis as Pakistan had split into two and a new state, Bangladesh had emerged. After his release, Shah addressed a rally at Anantnag, demanding freedom for Kashmiri people and denounced all decisions and agreements like “Simla Agreement” imposed upon the people of Kashmir by external powers or agencies. As a result of it, he was arrested again in May 1973, just five months after his release and subsequently shifted to the Srinagar’s Central Jail where he was detained for another 9 months.

In 1975, Shabir Shah denounced the “Indira-Abdullah Accord” signed by the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah for which he was arrested and tortured in the most notorious interrogation centers like Red-Sixteen and Bagh-i-Mehtab in Srinagar for 4 months and subsequently confined in Central Jail, Srinagar for another 30 months. After his release in 1978, Shah immediately began his underground political activities.

In 1980, Shah was re-arrested for attempts to organize an international conference on Kashmir. He was kept in the sub-jail Kathua and later moved to Central Jail in Srinagar where he was kept for twelve months. He was released towards the end of 1981 but in early 1982 when the People’s League launched the Quit Kashmir Movement, he was re-arrested. There were massive demonstrations against his arrest. Life in the valley came to standstill for 5 days and government had to yield to public pressure and release Shabir Shah. However, he was re-arrested from the Kailash Hotel and kept in the Kothi Bagh interrogation centre for three and a half months and was kept for another twelve months in Srinagar’s Central Jail. Then he was released in 1983. During an international cricket match in Srinagar on October 1983, Shabir Shah led a successful campaign against India and was arrested again in 1984.

When Shah was released in 1986, his health was deteriorated and within hours of his release, he addressed a press conference and demanded that Kashmiri people be given their right of self-determination. He was re-arrested within 10 days of his release on July 12, 1986 and tortured at Red-16 for 2 months. On September 8, 1986, Shah was presented before the State Advisory Board of the J&K High Court who ordered his release. He was, however, immediately re-arrested on other charges and kept in prison till April 26, 1988. Between April 1988 and August 1989, Shabir Shah remained underground and gave a new direction to the Kashmiri freedom movement. He was arrested on August 29, 1989 and was released on October 14, 1994. Since then he has been in and out of various jails and has been put under house arrest most of the time. His political movements have also been restricted to very much extent since then until he was detained under PSA on August 20, 2008 after taking part in “Muzaffarabad Chalo” March during the land agitation. After his detention grounds were quashed by the High Court, the government again slapped PSA against him on December 8, 2008, which was later revoked by the Court. He was released on May 22, 2009 but was re-arrested on June 8 with a fresh PSA slapped against him. The Court quashed his third PSA on August 4, 2009 but he was not released and instead booked again under PSA.

On May 21, 2017 it was known that Shabir Ahmad Shah had resigned as Secretary General of the pro-freedom group, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat led by Syed Ali Shah Geelani. He was summoned for terror financing by the Enforcement Directorate, on the basis of a confession by 35 years old Mohammed Aslam Wani, a hawala scamster, to Special cell of Delhi Police, who has claimed that he had passed on Rs. 2.25 crore to Shah by money laundering.