Sheikh Abdullah was made ‘Head of the Emergency Administration’ in J&K on 30 October 1947 by Maharaja Hari Singh at the instance of Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. He took oath as Prime Minister of Kashmir on 17 March 1948. He was accused of rigging elections to the Constituent Assembly in 1951. He was dismissed as Prime Minister on 8 August 1953, and was arrested and later jailed for eleven years upon being accused of conspiracy against the State in what came to be known as the ‘Kashmir Conspiracy Case’. Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed was appointed in his place—it was he who had arrested Sheikh Abdullah.
