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Begum Akbar Jehan Abdullah (1916 – 11 July 2000) was an Indian politician. The wife of Abdullah Sheikh, three-time
Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir The chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir is the title given to the head of government of Jammu and Kashmir. As per the Constitution of India, the lieutenant governor is the union territory's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority ...
, she twice served as a Member of
Indian Parliament The Parliament of India (ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The President o ...
. Akbar Jehan was the daughter of Michael Henry Nedou aka Harry, the eldest son of the European owner of an Indian hotel chain that included Nedous Hotel in Srinagar, and his Kashmiri wife Mirjan. Nedou was himself the proprietor of a hotel at the tourist resort of
Gulmarg Gulmarg (), known as Gulmarag (; in Kashmiri language, Kashmiri), is a town, hill station, tourist destination, skiing destination, and a notified area committee in the Baramulla district of the northern Kashmir Valley of the Indian union terri ...
. The writer Tariq Ali claims that Akbar Jehan was previously married in 1928 to an Arab Karam Shah who disappeared after a Calcutta newspaper Liberty reported that he was actually T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) Mubashhir Hassan (2008) a British Intelligence officer. He claims that Akbar Jehan was divorced by her first husband in 1929. She married Abdullah in 1933.


Political career

She served as a member of 6th and
8th Lok Sabha The 8th Lok Sabha ran from 31 December 1984 to 27 November 1989. Politicians were elected in December 1984, taking office by the end of the month. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the bicameral Parliament of India. 9 si ...
, from 1977 to 1979, and from 1984 to 1989, representing Kashmir's
Srinagar Srinagar (; ) is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary ...
and
Anantnag Anantnag ( ; ), also called Islamabad ( ; ), is the administrative headquarters of Anantnag district of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "admi ...
constituencies, respectively. She had the distinction of being the first President of Jammu and Kashmir Red Cross Society from 1947 to 1951. She also served as Chairman of State Level Committee of International Year of Women, 1975 and President of all India Family Welfare Association, State Branch, 1976 and All India Women's Conference, State Branch in 1977.


Later life and death

Jehan Abdullah died on 11 July 2000 in Srinagar at the age of 84.


Personal

V. S. Naipaul in his travelogue An Area of Darkness mentions about the origins of Abdullah family. During his travels in
Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...
, Naipaul narrates the story of a European hotelier Michael Henry Nedou who got attracted to a Muslim woman of modest means named Mir Jan in the hill station of
Gulmarg Gulmarg (), known as Gulmarag (; in Kashmiri language, Kashmiri), is a town, hill station, tourist destination, skiing destination, and a notified area committee in the Baramulla district of the northern Kashmir Valley of the Indian union terri ...
. Nedou expressed his desire to marry Mir Jan; however, she required his
conversion to Islam Reversion to Islam, also known within Islam as reversion, is adopting Islam as a religion or faith. Conversion requires a formal statement of the '' shahādah'', the credo of Islam, whereby the prospective convert must state that "there is none w ...
as a condition for the marriage. He accepted and from this union was born Akbar Jehan, who would later marry Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, a central figure in the political history of
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...
and the founder of the National Conference party. She is the mother of the Kashmiri politician
Farooq Abdullah Farooq Abdullah (born 21 October 1937) is an Indian politician who serves as current president of the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference. He has served as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on several occasions since 1982 till 2002, and ...
, who succeeded his father Abdullah Sheikh as J&K chief minister in 1982, and grandmother of
Omar Abdullah Omar Abdullah (born 10 March 1970) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the chief minister of union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. He had previously served as the chief minister of the state of Jammu and Kashmir between 2009 and ...
.


References


External links


Farooq's mother laid to rest
Akbar Jehan 20th-century Indian Muslims India MPs 1977–1979 India MPs 1984–1989 1916 births 2000 deaths Jammu & Kashmir National Conference politicians Lok Sabha members from Jammu and Kashmir Kashmiri politicians Women members of Parliament from Jammu and Kashmir 20th-century Indian women politicians Kashmiri women Kashmiri Muslims Women members of the Lok Sabha {{JammuKashmir-politician-stub