Amanullah Khan was born in the Astore area of Gilgit on August 24, 1934. In 1940, he went to Kashmir in pursuit of educational opportunities.He passed his Matric Exam from Kashmir University in 1950 obtaining a place in the merit list (by standing 1st amogst all Muslim Students in the state). He then joined S.P. College and later Amar Singh College Srinagar and migrated to Pakistan in 1952. There he joined S.M. College Karachi graduated in 1957 and obtained a Degree in Law in 1962, all this as a self-supporting student.He was the co-founder of the Kashmir Independent Committee in 1963, was elected Secretary General of JK Plebiscite Front (PF) in 1965. He co-founded the JK National Liberation Front (NLF) with Maqbool Bhat. (Maqbool Bhat was sent to gallows in Tihar Jail New Delhi in 1984.)
Before being hanged, Bhat had spent 10 years in Indian prisons dubbed an agent of Pakistan and three years in Pakistan dubbed an Indian agent. Khan spent 15 months in Gilgit prison in 1970-72, accused of being an Indian agent and was tried in absentia in Srinagar, accused of being an agent of Pakistan.In 1976, Mr. Khan went to England where in May 1977 he formed JKLF by renaming the England branches of JKNLF. He was arrested in England in September 1985 and acquitted but deported in December 1986.Once in Pakistan, he was the chief architect in starting the armed freedom struggle in 1988 in Indian controlled Kashmir.
The Indian government had his U.S. Visa cancelled in 1990, got Interpol Warrants of Arrest issued against him and had him arrested in Belgium in October 1993 where he had been invited by the European Parliament to attend a seminar on Kashmir. Both Farooq Abdullah and George Fernandes, who were also attending the seminar, condemned his arrest. The Belgian court rejected the Indian government's demand for his extradition to India and released him after about three months.Amanullah Khan has only one child, a daughter named Asma who married Sajjad Ghani Lone, the son of Abdul Ghani Lone, Chairman of JK People's Conference in November, 2000. She is based in Srinagar and writes about different aspects of the Kashmir Issues and regional geo-political issues.
Mr. Khan has written two books, Free Kashmir (English) and my autobiography (in Urdu), and about 3 dozen booklets and pamphlets in English and Urdu about different aspects of the Kashmir issue and the Freedom Movement. He has visited over 20 countries to lobby for his cause including attending the UN General Assembly and held many press conferences there.According to him, he is not an enemy of the people or the state of India or Pakistan (except Kashmir) but only of the governmental machinery which has kept his motherland under subjugation and of those politicians who deny to Kashmiris their inherent and pledged right of self-determination. (KNS)