1955 Poonch uprising

1955 Poonch Uprising
	Part of the Kashmir conflict
Date	February 1955 – October 1956; (1 year and 8 months)
Location	Azad Jammu and Kashmir
Result	Rebellion suppressed; Pakistani State order restored;
Belligerents
Sudhans of Poonch Division	Government of Pakistan ; Government of Azad Kashmir
Commanders and leaders
Sardar Ibrahim Khan	Mushtaq Ahmed Gurmani ; Major Usman
Units involved
Sudhan tribesmen	Punjab Constabulary ; Azad Kashmir Police ; Pakistan Army
Casualties and losses
Several arrested; Several homes burned down	150 policemen of the Punjab Constabulary captured

Last updated March 25, 2024

The 1955 Poonch revolt, also known as the 1955 Sudhan uprising^[1] was a Civil revolt in Azad Jammu and Kashmir against the State of Pakistan. The uprising broke out in February 1955 and was provoked largely by the dismissal of Sardar Ibrahim Khan. It took a year until the uprising was suppressed in October 1956.^[2]

Events

A major uprising occurred around the Rawalakot and Pallandri tehsils of Poonch (then a district, now a division), against the State of Pakistan amongst angry Sudhans. After the ‘bomb shell’ of Ibrahim's dismissal, ‘Colonel (Retired) Sher Ahmed Khan, a sardar and scion of the Sudhan tribe and the senior most military officer from Poonch, was made a cabinet minister with responsibility for defence, education and health. Colonel Sher Ahmed Khan resigned because his community, the Sudhans, were strongly opposed to his appointment in view of the dismissal of Sardar Ibrahim Khan; violent demonstrations had occurred particularly in the Rawalakot and Pallandri areas of Poonch, where Sudhans displeased with the dismissal of Ibrahim Khan, opposed the replacement government. There also had been a showdown between the Sudhans and the Pakistan Army contingents posted in the area’, which caused great concern to the Central Government.

The Poonch situation became so bad that the Azad Kashmir Police could not control it. Members of the Punjab Constabulary of the Pakistani Army were brought in. The Pakistan Army's 12th Division, with headquarters in Murree and with forces already deployed in Azad Kashmir, joined in the suppression, declaring martial law in Poonch. The fighting was not one sided. Some Sudhans had captured 150 soldiers of the Punjab Constabulary, and their weapons. Sudhan's antigovernment actions started in February 1955 with an assassination attempt in Poonch on the Azad Kashmir President, Sher Ahmed Khan, from which he had a ‘miraculous escape’. Matters escalated when police sought to arrest an ‘absconding accused’ by entering a mosque at Pallandri. Thereafter, Sudhans clashed with the Pakistan Army, and the Punjab Constabulary, which dealt with the insurrection brutally. Similarly, the Punjab Prosecuting Agency was ‘a terror’ to Azad Kashmiris, particularly those incarcerated. It took one year until the uprising was suppressed in 1956.^[3]^[4] This operation PC Pak Search Sudhan Operation means Pakistan Army's search operation on Sudhnuti

Causes

A major cause of the rebellion was the demand of the local people for autonomy in administrative and budgetary affairs.^[2]

A resistance movement seeking a more democratic state of Azad Kashmir had been active since September 1950. In 1951 a parallel government was formed in Poonch in retaliation for Pakistan's dismissal of Sardar Ibrahim Khan as head of state.^[2] The situation calmed down for some time because of Liaquat Ali Khan's assassination.

When Sardar Ibrahim protested, his government was dismissed. A revolt erupted in Rawalakot and Palandri in the Poonch district as a reaction to this action by the Pakistani State. A military contingent of 120 personnel led by Major Usman was sent in to crush the revolt and arrest its leaders. After an initial skirmish Ibrahim's forces were defeated and his tribe disarmed under the guidance of Pakistan's then Minister of Kashmir Affairs, Mushtaq Ahmed Gurmani, and the weapons were handed over to the government of Pakistan.^[5]

General elections were held in 1952. Sher Ahmed Khan, a Sudhan, took office as the President of Azad Kashmir. Sardar Abdul Qayyum was also part of the cabinet. However, after the passing of the Azad Kashmir Rules of Business in October 1952, all executive power was vested in the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs (Pakistan).^[6] This resulted in the eruption of the rebellion in 1955 that was crushed by force by Pakistan Constubulary.

Aftermath

Sardar Abdul Qayyum would later write that, "In 1955 when police were brought in from the Punjab, what they did here is a black stain on our history… When in 1956 I became the president I got a chance to reduce their grievances. Hence a number of people who were in prison and suffering distress were released…. but those whose homes were burnt out were not compensated. Although to reduce their sorrows in sympathy, I gave them bits of money.”^[4]

On the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs, Sardar Ibrahim Khan exclaimed, "The Ministry played havoc with the Azad Kashmir movement and had it finally liquidated to the satisfaction of all bureaucrats in Pakistan.” On democracy in AJK, he also stated, "It is like hell. It is the worst example of democracy…. It has not served Kashmiris at all. It has always divided [them] and made them fight amongst themselves.”

The uprising had led to a number of strict and draconian security laws being passed by the local government and Ministry of Kashmir Affairs, including the ‘Azad Kashmir Public Safety Act 1953’, ‘The Pallandhri Disturbances Special Tribunal Act 1955 and 1956’, ‘The Control of Goondas Act 1956’, as well as ‘The Azad Kashmir Recovery of Abducted Persons Act 1953 and 1956’.^[4]

Related Research Articles

Azad Jammu and Kashmir, abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir, is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entity and constituting the western portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947. Azad Kashmir also shares borders with the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the south and west, respectively. On its eastern side, Azad Kashmir is separated from the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir by the Line of Control (LoC), which serves as the de facto border between the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled parts of Kashmir. Geographically, it covers a total area of 13,297 km² (5,134 sq mi) and has a total population of 4,045,366 as per the 2017 national census.

Poonch District is a district of Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. It is one of the 10 districts of this Pakistan-administered territory. It is bounded on the north by Bagh District, on the north-east by Haveli District, on the south-east by the Poonch District of Indian-administered Kashmir, on the south by Azad Kashmir's Sudhanoti and Kotli districts, and on the west by Rawalpindi District of Pakistan's Punjab Province. The Poonch District is part of the greater Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan. The district headquarters is the city of Rawalakot. It is the third most populous district of Azad Kashmir.

Rawalakot is the capital of Poonch district in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. It is located in the Pir Panjal Range.

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Pallandri, also spelled Palandri, originally Pulandari, is a Tehsil which serves as the administrative capital of Sudhanoti district of Azad Kashmir. It is located at latitude 33° 42′ 54″ N, longitude 73° 41′ 9″ E, 90 km (56 mi) from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. It is connected with Rawalpindi and Islamabad through Azad Pattan road. The main tribe of Pallandri is the Sudhan tribe. Here in Palindri the first Government of Sidhnuti Azad Kashmir on October 4,1947 was established

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Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan was a Kashmiri revolutionary leader and politician, who led the 1947 Poonch Rebellion against absolute rule of the Maharaja in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and played a key role in the First Kashmir War, supporting Pakistan. He served as the President of Azad Kashmir for 13 years across four non-consecutive terms and still remains the longest-serving president of the state, since its establishment.

Sudhan is one of the major tribes from the districts of Poonch, Sudhanoti, Bagh and Kotli in Azad Kashmir, allegedly originating from Pashtun areas. The Sudhan Pathans who settled in Azad Kashmir are mainly an important and major branch of the Saduzai tribe who migrated from Afghanistan in the 14th century AD and founded the present-day Azad Kashmir region of Sudhanoti and ruled here for hundreds of years.

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Poonch District was a district of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, which is currently divided between India and Pakistan. The Pakistani part of the erstwhile district is now the Poonch Division in the Azad Kashmir territory, whilst the Indian part of the district is the Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir. The capital of the Pakistan-controlled side is Rawalakot; while the capital of the Indian-controlled side is Poonch.

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In spring 1947, an uprising against the Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir broke out in the Poonch jagir, an area bordering the Rawalpindi district of West Punjab and the Hazara district of the North-West Frontier Province in the future Pakistan. It was driven by grievances such as high taxes, the Maharaja's neglect of World War veterans, and above all, Muslim nationalism with a desire to join Pakistan. The leader of the rebellion, Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, escaped to Lahore by the end of August 1947 and persuaded the Pakistani authorities to back the rebellion. In addition to the backing, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan authorised an invasion of the state, by the ex-Indian National Army personnel in the south and a force led by Major Khurshid Anwar in the north. These invasions eventually led to the First Kashmir War fought between India and Pakistan, and the formation of Azad Kashmir provisional government. The Poonch jagir has since been divided across Azad Kashmir, administered by Pakistan and the state of Jammu and Kashmir, administered by India.

Major General Muhammad Hayat Khan was an Azad Kashmiri politician who served as the 15th President of Azad Kashmir from 1 November 1978 to 31 January 1983.

PC Pak Search Sudhan Operation was a Pakistani military operation of the 1955 Poonch uprising. The first major operation of the Pakistan Army inside Pakistan, it was conducted against Sudhan tribal insurgents in the Sudhan-majority Sudhanoti, Poonch, Bagh, and Kotli Districts of Azad Kashmir.

The Baral Agreement was an agreement between the government of Pakistan and rebellious Sudhan tribes signed on 20 December 1956 following an armed rebellion by the tribes against Pakistan's rule of Kashmir.

References

↑ II: Revolt and Pacification 4.Early Years and the Sudhan Revolt. HarperCollins India. 13 February 2021.
1 2 3 Snedden, Christopher (2013). Kashmir: The Unwritten History. India: Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 978-9350298978.
↑ Snedden, Christopher. Kashmir - The Untold Story. HarperCollins India. pp. 120, 121, 122. ISBN 9789350298985.
1 2 3 Khan Yousafzai, Usman (18 March 2021). "The forgotten Poonch revolt: A stain on our history". tribune.com.pk. The Express Tribune. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
↑ Marxism, In Defence of. "Kashmir's Ordeal - Chapter Six" . Retrieved 25 September 2016.
↑ Behera, Navnita Chadha (2007). Demystifying Kashmir. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 978-0815708605.

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[1] II: Revolt and Pacification 4.Early Years and the Sudhan Revolt. HarperCollins India. 13 February 2021.

[:0-2] 1 2 3 Snedden, Christopher (2013). Kashmir: The Unwritten History. India: Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 978-9350298978.

[3] Snedden, Christopher. Kashmir - The Untold Story. HarperCollins India. pp. 120, 121, 122. ISBN 9789350298985.

[Khan_Yousafzai-4] 1 2 3 Khan Yousafzai, Usman (18 March 2021). "The forgotten Poonch revolt: A stain on our history". tribune.com.pk. The Express Tribune. Retrieved 20 June 2021.

[5] Marxism, In Defence of. "Kashmir's Ordeal - Chapter Six" . Retrieved 25 September 2016.

[6] Behera, Navnita Chadha (2007). Demystifying Kashmir. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 978-0815708605.

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