ABDULLAH, SEIKH MUHAMMAD

(b. Dec. 5, 1905, Soura, Kashmir; d. Sept. 8, 1982, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir), also known as the "Lion of Kashmir", prominent figure in India's struggle for independence. He was the first chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

Abdullah was educated at the Prince of Wales College (Jammu) and the Islamia College (Lahore) and received an M.S. degree in physics from Aligarh Muslim University in 1930. He championed the cause of the Muslim majority in the state during the British rule in India and fought against the discrimination exercised by the Hindu rulers of Kashmir. Abdullah served his first prison term in 1931 for urging self-rule for Kashmir. He later founded the Kashmir Muslim (later National) Conference. Supporter of the concept of a secular state, when India was granted independence he strongly opposed the idea of joining a Muslim Pakistan.

In 1948, Abdullah became the prime minister of Kashmir following a coup against the maharaja of Kashmir. Despite his early support for Jawaharlal Nehru, the belief that Abdullah's ultimate aim was the independence of Kashmir led to his dismissal and imprisonment in 1953. During the next 11 years he refused to pledge his loyalty to India and was kept under preventive detention by the Indian government most of the time. When Nehru released him in 1964, he received an enthusiastic reception from his people. In subsequent talks with the Indian government, he worked out the basis of a possible joint solution to the Kashmir problem.

 Gradually, his support in Kashmir was eroded by the apparent lack of progress in talks with India. Abdullah was again arrested and detained until 1968. From then until his appointment as chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir in 1975, his Plebiscite Front gained some successes, but it lost to the Congress Party in the 1972 elections. His relations with the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, were sometimes strained, but he persuaded her to allow a form of autonomy in Kashmir.