Maqbool Butt Shaheed

Maqbool Butt Shaheed whose execution in Tihar Jail, New Delhi by Indian government on Feb. 11, 1984 gave unprecedented inspirations to Kashmiri youth who, under the banner of JKLF started armed freedom struggle in July 1988 which gave a new life to the dying Kashmir Issue and Kashmiris freedom struggle. Maqbool Butt and Amanullah Khan (the present Supreme Head of JKLF) were among the founders of Jammu Kashmir Plebiscite Front (JKPF) and Jammu Kashmir National Liberation Front (JKNLF), the two torch-bearers of reunification and complete independence of the divided Jammu Kashmir State. Before going to gallows Maqbool Butt had spent about ten years in prison in India and Indian held Kashmir and over three years in Pakistan for his ‘Crime’ of demanding for his nation its inherent, recognised and pledged right of self-determination. This fact speaks volumes about the real Indian and Pakistani stands on Kashmiris basic human right to determine their own future.