Mirza Afzal Beg

rdf:langString Mirza Afzal Beg

rdf:langString Mirza Afzal Beg

rdf:langString Member of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly

rdf:langString President and Founder of All Jammu and Kashmir Plebiscite Front

rdf:langString Member of Constituent Assembly of India and Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir

rdf:langString Cabinet Minister for Public Works of Princely State of J&K

rdf:langString Mirza Mohammad Afzal Beg (1908–1982) was a Kashmiri politician belonging to the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference. He served as a minister in the pre-independence period in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, and as the revenue minister in the post-independence government headed by Sheikh Abdullah. In this post he led the land reforms in Jammu and Kashmir, recognised as the most successful land reforms in India. After the dismissal of Sheikh Abdullah government in 1953, Beg was incarcerated along with Abdullah and charged in the Kashmir Conspiracy Case. Beg founded a new party called the Plebiscite Front, demanding that Kashmir's accession to India should be decided by a plebiscite. In 1974, he paved the way for Abdullah's rehabilitation by negotiating with the Indian government, leading to the 1974 Indira-Sheikh accord. Plebiscite Front was then transformed into the present day National Conference. Beg served as the Deputy Chief Minister in the next government headed by Sheikh Abdullah. In 1978, Abdullah expelled him from the National Conference, alleging him of causing defections.