Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti has asked chief minister Nitish Kumar to preserve in Nalanda, his home district, the tomb of Kashmir’s last indigenous king Yousuf Shah Chak, who died in Bihar after Mughal emperor Akbar exiled him after invading his kingdom in the 16th century.
She expressed concern over its poor condition and said the last resting place of Chak symbolises the ties between Kashmir and Bihar. “But unfortunately, the site is in absolute disrepair and ruins,” said Mufti, the last chief minister of J&K before the region was stripped of its statehood in 2019.
Mufti, who is in Patna for the meeting of non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parties on Friday as part of efforts to unite them ahead of the 2024 national polls, visited Nalanda to pay her respects to Chak.
The Mughals annexed Kashmir in 1586 after unsuccessful attempts to do so over the previous six decades of the establishment of the Mughal Empire under Emperor Babur in 1528. Chak remains part of Kashmir’s collective memory not just as its last indigenous king but also through the poetry of his queen Habba Khatun, who is one of the region’s greatest cultural icons. He is believed to have fallen in love at first sight with her while he was on a hunting trip and heard Khatun singing under a Chinar tree as she was wandering after walking out of an unhappy marriage. Born Zoon, she was renamed Habba Khatun as she became Chak’s queen. The Mughals soon invaded Kashmir and exiled Chak.
Chak lived in exile in Nalanda’s Beswak village, which has since been renamed Kashmiri Chak. He died in 1592.
Mufti cited the historic significance of the tomb and said it has to be preserved. “The area around the grave is open and without boundary walls. The place should have been developed as a tourist spot with facilities. Many people from Kashmir are eager to visit this place. The development of the site would boost tourism.”
She said the burial ground has enough land where a park could also be developed for the convenience of the visitors.”…Nitish Kumar would definitely respond in a positive manner.”
Nalanda district magistrate Shashank Shubhankar, who accompanied Mufti to the site, said there has been a plan to develop boundary walls over the land around the grave. “I would also discuss the tourism potential of the site with the tourism department,” he said.
Yasir Rashid Khan, the custodian of the graveyard, said he has been requesting the government for the upkeep for years. “In 2019, Omar Abdullah, another former chief minister of J&K, requested the government to protect the part of Kashmir’s history in Bihar, but nothing happened,” he said.
There is a boundary wall around the graveyard but the gravestones are in bad shape. The five-acre land area around the graves is open from all sides and faced encroachment. “A big part of this land has been encroached on. Locals have occupied it for farming,” said Khan. He added the place had been drawing people from Kashmir and other parts of the country. “But there is neither any basic amenity nor any tourism facility here. People who turn up, leave the site within a few hours.”
