Past Glory of Kashmir : End of Dependence (Part-Three)

End of Independence
Despite his father having been taken a prisoner by the Mughals, Yaqub Shah continued his struggle against them. Unfortunately the Kashmiri nobles started their internecine wars again. The Sultan suppressed the revolt at Sopur, but the Shia Sunni feuds ruined the unity of the Kashmiris. They fought each other and thus made work of the enemy very easy. The nobility cared a towpence for the freedom of Kashmir and they fought between themselves. Instead of facing the invaders, they diverted their energies towards raising the Shia Sunni issues. Though Sultan Yosuf Shah had become a prisoner in the hands of the Mughals, the Kashmir Sultanate had not fallen. Sultan Yaqub Shah proclaimed independence, Khutba was read in his name and coins were struck declaring him as Sultan of Kashmir. The Mughals had not achieved their object and Akbar was thinking of another and final attack on Kashmir.
Ali Dar, the Chief Minister of the Sultanate proved ,to be a worthless fellow, who cherished the hope of becoming the Sultan of Kashmir himself. In order to achieve his object, he began to enlist the support of some of the nobles to the dislike of the others. He raised his followers on communal lines, with the result that once again the nobles of the Sultanate fought as champions of the Shia and the Sunni sects, against each other. In a rebellion against the Sultan, Ali Dar and his followers were defeated and Mohamad Bhat become the new Chief Minister. He plunged into the task of making the Sultanate into the Shia State, with the result that atrocities were committed on the Sunni divines. Sultan Yaqub Shah, instead of taking measures to defend the incoming invasion of the Mughals. got himself engulfed into the Shia-Sunni tangle, which ultimately led to the murder of Qazi Musa, the Head Mufti of the Sunni Muslims. Though, the Sultan dismissed Mohamad Bhat and brought Nazuk Shah in his place, the resentment of the Sunni Muslims was at its highest peak throughout the valley. The Shia divines instead of preaching amity among the Muslims, preached hatred against the Sunnis, with the result that some of the Sunni divines approached Akbar to save them from the Shia wrath. Accordingly, an agreement was drawn between the Kashmiri delegation and the Mughal emperor embodying:
(a) the Mughals shall not interfere into the religious affairs of the Kashmiris;
(b) the Mughals shall not interfere into the sale price of food grain of Kashmir;
(c) the Mughals shall not make the Kashmiri men as slaves or the Kashmiri women as concubines;
(d) the Mughals shall not inflict oppression on the Kashmiris.
(e) the Mughals shall not entrust them with authority, who have created turmoil in Kashmir.
Some of the Kashmiris had again assumed the role of the traitors and circumstances had led them to approach Akbar. The Kashmiri deputation had proposed the conquest of Kashmir, but Akbar had a bitter experience of the earliest failures and was not sure about the Kashmiris. However, he agreed to send his forces for the conquest of the valley. This time, he deputed a large army of 60,000 soldiers, with 22  commander Some of the Kashmiri nobles including Hyder Chah agreed to serve as guides to the Mughals. The mountain wardens and hilly chiefs were won over through bribes. As such, most of the Kashmiri nobles and grandies went over to the enemy. The commandars of Sultan Yaqub proved traitors and defected or fought between themselves. The Mughal army went on advancing towards the capital where the Mughal spies had already prepared the ground. In the meanwhile, the Kashmiris were defeated by the Mughals and the enemy entered Srinagar in October 1586. Yaqub Shah fled to Kishtwar.
The Mughals occupied the Sultanate and like every conqueror they ill- treated the vanquished. The Kashmiris had been mistaken, for they obtained the fruit of their folly and reaped the harvest of their blunder.
The Mughal soldiers let lose a reign of terror in Kashmir, A taste for destruction, loot, abduction, arson and rape took them to the towns and villages of Kashmir. The Kashmiris had learnt a bitter lesson and now they wished Yaqub to come again and be their Sultan. And when he came from Kishtwar, they flocked around him. Some of the freedom fighters were led by Syed Abul Muali and villagers were in revolt, while the Mughal army was in occupation of Srinagar. Guerilla warfare continued up to nearly 3 months. Some of the Kashmiri traitors like Khalil Baba and Mona Butt invited another contingent of the Mughal army to Kashmir under Syed Yosaf. These traitors again deceived the Kashmiris and won over the feudal lords through bribes. The freedom fighters were captured and killed. Some of the Kashmiri leaders were imprisoned and their eyes were taken out by Mohamad Butt, under orders of the Mughal Governor. Sultan Yakub Shah was defeated, due to treachery of the Kashmiri feudal lords. He ran away to Kishtwar. Thus independence of Kashmir ended in 1588 and an era of slavery started. The Mughals nearly exterminated the Chaks, who were brought in groups to the scaffold and butchered at the door of the Mughal Governor Hiqad Khan. The Chaks, who were mostly Shias adopted the Sunni doctrines and changed their surnames from Chak to Shah and similar other pseudonyms.
Another Mughal Governor, Mohamad Guli Khan (1590-160) imposed heavy taxes on the Kashmir people, who appealed to Shah Jehan for justice. They suffered during the ruler of the Mughals. It was a long period of famine and floods. The Kashmiris were grounded to poverty. Many died of starvation, their corpses remained without buried and animals feasted on them. The Mughals made it a state policy to depute the Shia or the Sunni Governor after intervals, so as to ground down the factors among the Kashmiris. The net result was that the Muslims of Kashmir suffered atrocities from time to time at the hands of the Mughals. Hassan has given a long list of such atrocities. In 1753, Abul-Qasim, who was living in obscurity in Qalool Pora, Srinagar, assumed the leadership of the suffered and collected the disbanded soldiers under his banner, He defeated the Mughal remnants and took over administration, in his own hands, by re-establishing the independent Kashmir State. The Mughal rule came to an end with this event.