Naya Kashmir

Naya Kashmir is the name given to the memorandum that Sheikh Abdullah the leader of Kashmir's leading political party the National Conference submitted to Maharaja Hari Singh the ruler of Jammu and Kashmir State on his return to Kashmir after attending a meeting of the Imperial War Cabinet of Great Britain followed by a tour of Europe and Middle East in 1944. It was the outline of a plan to convert the Jammu and Kashmir state from an absolute monarchy to constitutional democracy with the Maharajah remaining as the Head of the State as the Monarch is in Britain. A detailed economic plan for the development of Jammu and Kashmir State was a part of this memorandum. It was subsequently adopted by the National Conference as its manifesto. The "Naya Kashmir" plan proved to be immensely popular in Kashmir as it was the blueprint for a welfare state far in advance of its times. The text of Naya Kashmir in Urdu language is reprinted in the book "Tehreek e Hurriyat e Kashmir"