Mirza Hassan Khan

Mirza Hassan Khan , of Majini Mohallah Gilgit, was a captain of the 6th Infantry of the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces.

Khan was born in Gilgit in 1919.

His father, Mirza Taj Mohammad Khan, belonged to a Rono family of Gilgit.

His mother was from Nagar.

Khan had early education in Gilgit and then went to Srinagar.

However, his father died at this time and he was taken to Poonch by Wazir Mir Husain Shah.

He studied in J.V. High School there and stood first among all students in the district.

Afterwards, he entered the Sri Pratap College in Srinagar.

While studying in college, he decided to become a soldier and went to Jammu to enrol as a sepoy.

But upon the advice of Col. Mirza Faqirullah, he applied for the king's commission in the army.

After studying at the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun in 1937–38, he joined the Jammu and Kashmir State Forces.

Khan entered the service of Jammu and Kashmir State Forces in 1938.

During World War II, he was sent to Burma as part of the 4th Kashmir Infantry Division.

For his gallantry in the Burma action, he was awarded Burmese Star, M. D. and M. C.

After returning from Burma, Khan felt that the Maharaja was cold towards the Muslim officers that returned from the war.

He was posted to Bhimber as part of the 6th Kashmir Infantry.

Here he became involved with a group of Muslim officers that plotted to overthrow the Maharaja's regime.

A revolutionary council was set up in 1946 and Hassan Khan was made its chairman.

The group decided to act when the British handed power over to the Dominions of India and Pakistan, by simultaneously attacking and occupying the military cantonments in their respective areas.

However, the Maharaja's government transferred all the officers to new locations before that time and the plot was foiled.

It has also been said that Major Aslam Khan, who was supposed to act in Jammu, left the service of State Forces and moved to the (undivided) British Indian Army.

Thus a key part of the revolution went missing.

Placed at Bunji in the Gilgit wazarat (now Astore district, Gilgit-Baltistan), Khan rebelled against the Maharaja's regime after his accession to India and participated in the overthrow of the governor of Gilgit in November 1947.

He later fought in the First Kashmir War as part of Gilgit rebel forces under the command of Colonel Aslam Khan and rose to become a colonel in the Pakistan Army.

After leaving the army, he founded the Gilgit League to protest against the Pakistan's ad-hoc administration of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Hassan Khan was transferred to the Badami Bagh Cantonment in Srinagar in July 1947.

In July 1947, the British government terminated the 60-year lease of the Gilgit Agency and returned the region to the Maharaja.

The Maharaja's administration posted Brigadier Ghansara Singh as the governor to Gilgit.

It also sent the 6th Infantry to Bunji (in the Astore District, immediately south of the Indus River across from Gilgit).

The battalion was commanded by Colonel Abdul Majeed.

Hassan Khan commanded a company within it and was found to be actively canvassing for Pakistan.

At the beginning of October, a serious brawl broke out between the Muslim and non-Muslim troops in the Bunji garrison.

The Maharaja's administration ordered that Hassan Khan should be sent to Srinagar under arrest.

Governor Ghansara Singh, however, had the order annulled on the grounds that it would aggravate the situation.

Towards the end of October, governor Ghansara Singh became apprehensive of the loyalties of the Gilgit Scouts based in Gilgit, and asked Col. Abdul Majeed to send a contingent of Sikh troops.

Hassan Khan persuaded Majeed that he should go in place of Sikhs, with the argument that the arrival of Sikh troops would further inflame the Gilgit Scouts.

With Majeed's agreement, he set out to Gilgit.

It appears that by the time he reached Gilgit, the governor was already overpowered.

Nevertheless Hassan Khan sided with Major William Brown of the Gilgit Scouts and later gave himself the full credit as the leader of the coup.

On 2 November 1947, Mirza Hassan Khan and other officers of the rebel forces, announced a provisional government, with Raja Shah Rais Khan as the President and Mirza Hassan Khan as the Commander-in-Chief.