For historical reasons, the anti-colonalist consciousness remained weak among Valley's Muslim community. Infact there is recorded evidence, which relates Kashmir's anti autocratic movement to the patronage by the British. In contrast in the Briish Punjab, anti-British ideas were pervasive among sections of Kashmiri Muslims. The role of Ahrars, whose cadres and the leadership came from Kashmiris in Punjab has been underplayed. This organisation of Muslim nationalists came up when Khilafat movement betrayed nationalism and Muslims started leaving Congress in the increasing communal atmosphere in the country. It were Ahrars who rescued the anti-autocratic movement in Kashmir from their dependence on pro-British Muslim communal organi-sations of Punjab. Abdul Salam Rafiqi, Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew and Abdul Majid have made Kashmiris proud for their extraordinary nationalist role. Rafiqi was exiled for his anti-British activities. Abdul Majid, a Kashmiri emigre was one of the founders of the communist party of India in Tashkent in 1925. Dr Kitchlew, the hero who inspired struggle against Rowlatt Act, went on to play a leading role in Indian National Congress movement. 

The research done by Dr Amandeep, a scholar at Guru Nanak Univesity has opened a new dimension for the study of anticolonial consciousness among Kashmiri Muslims. In an excellent monograph, he examines the role of Kashmiri Muslims of Amritsar in anti-Rowlatt Act agitation. Amritsar and Lahore have been the major diasporas of Kashmiri Muslims in British India. The first batches of Kashmiri Muslims who came to Amritsar were Pashmina traders. It was in the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, after he introduced the manufacture of Pashmina. Many of these Kashmiris made good fortune due to the eclusive control of Pashmina trade by them. Dr Saif-ud-Din Kitchlew, belonged to one such family. His father was a flourishing pashmina and saffron, merchant. Belonging to a brahmin family of Baramulla, Kithchlew's ancestor Prakash Ram Kitchlew hadaccepted Islam. It was Kitchlew's grand father Ahmed Jo, who had migrated from Kashmir in the middle of the 19th century. 

In the aftermath of the great famine which struck Kashmir in 1871, many Kashmiri Muslims came to Amritsar as well. In 1891 the number of Kashmiri Muslims in Amritsar was 21, 261. It was one-third of the total Muslim 

population and one-sixth of the total population of Amritsar.  Why many Kashmiri Muslims left Amritsar in the first decade of 20th century remains unclear. In 1921 still the Kashmiri Muslim population stood at 16024 i.e. 1/5th of the Muslim population and one-tenth of the total population. By the last decade of the ninetenth century a few Kashmiri families had become rich enough to influence the politics of the Amritsar city. They began dominating the Muslim politics in the Muncipal Comittees. Among these families were Shaikh Ahmad Sadiq,  chairman of the Amritsar Muncipal Committee, Shaikh Sadiq Hasan, a member of the Central Legislative and Punjab Legislative Assembly for Amritsar, Shaikh Muhammad Sadiq, a member of Punjab Legislative Council from Amritsar. David Gilmarti has reviewed the role of these Muslims in his scholarly work 'Empire and Islam, Punjab and the making of Pakistan',

Nawaz Sharif's family, Sadat Hassan Manto-the greatest short-story writer of his time and Mian Hafeezulah Manto were also Amritsar Kashmiris. Hafeezullah Manto was a Kashmiri lawyer, whose daughter was married to Dr Saif-ud-Din Kitchlew. 

In 1919 Amritsar, like other cities of Punjab was in great ferment. Mahtma Gandhi had given a call against the Rowlatt Bills. There was severe economic crisis in the aftermath of the end of first world war. Prices of essentials like wheat, gram, maize and barley had shown steep increase. In the preceding year there was a serious epidemic of Influenza. There was also anger among Indian Muslims over British attempts to undermine the Caliphate by ending the Turkish empire. The Sultan of Turkey was the Caliph of Muslims. 

Since Kashmiris formed an important urban biradari of Amritsar city in 1919, their role in any struggle was bound to be crucial. After his return from abroad, Dr Kitchlew played non-political role for some time. In 1917, however, he opened a branch of All India Muslim League in Amritsar. That time League was looked upon by the Congress as a sister organisation. All top activists of the League were also Congressmen. 

Gandhi's mobilisation of Indians around the Khilafat issue attracted Kitchlew to him in 1919. Meanwhile, the debate on Rowlatt Bills, which aimed at curbing the civil liberties of Indians crystallised public opinion of political India.Kitchlew organised a series of meetings to raise voice against the Bills. 

When the call for Satyagraha came, he was made president of the Satyagraha Sabha. Dr Kitchlew, a fine orator, infused the Punjabi masses with the idea of self-government, and exposed the tyranny of the British rule in India. He addressed meetings at Lahore, Multan, Gujranwala, Jullundhar and Amritsar. Sometimes the attendance rose to 40,000 and Kitchlew became a beloved leader of the masses. He used his oratorial skills to arouse Kashmiri Muslims and bring them round to mainstream of Indian politics. He would say 'look at me, I am a Kashmiri Brahmin. My blood, my bones all belong to this soil, where the foreigners rule. This is my home but who is its master' Not I, not you but..' 

On 10th March, 1991, Dr Kitchloo called upon the people to think calmly what horrors it would bring to them and their coming generations if the Rowlatt Bills came into force. Already the Press Act, and the Defence Act, were in operation. 'On one hand means were being devised to extend the self-government, while on the other people found fresh chains,' Dr Kitchlew said in anguish. He said the power of these bills was that an 'accused' was told there was a charge against him, the trial was to be held in camera and the evidence could not be placed before him. Na Vakil Na Dalil Na Appeal became a popular slogan. 

On 18th March, 1919 when the Rowlatt Act was passed, Dr Kitchlew condemned the day as a black one against the autocratic government on 23rd March Dr Kitchlew seconding the resolution against the new Act asked people to take the vow of Satya Graha given by Gandhi to liberate their country in a constitutional way. He denounced the British bureaucracy and encouraged the people to protest against the present mode of administration.He made extraordinary efforts to forge a unity among different functions in Punjabi society and create a dynamic force against the despotic and tyrannical administration of General Dwyer. Dr Kitchlew demanded Home Rule and envisaged an India having the same political powers or an autonomy like other British colonies. 

As the agitation against the Bills mounted Gandhi gave a call for nationwide hartal. The date was initially fixed for 30 March but was later changed to 6 April as it was thought that  enough notice had not been given. Dr Kitchlew was in the forefront on both the days.Hartal was observed all over Punjab on March 30, 1999 and a mass meeting was held at Jallianwalla Bagh, attended by some 30,000 people. On April 4th, Dr Kitchlew and some activists were served with orders under Defence of India Act, prohibiting them from addressing or attending public meetings. 

On April 6th there was country-wide hartal. It was observed principally in Amritsar, without any effort on the part of any local leader. There was no police interference. With Satyapal, Dr Kitchlew surcharged the people of Amritsar emotionally on Ram Naumi day i.e. 9 April. For the first time in the history of Amritsar, the Muslims had joined the traditional Hindu festival. It was the Hindu-Muslim unity which was disturbing for the authorities. Dr Satyapal and Kitchlew were taken into custody and deported to Dharamsala. The move proved self-defeating. The events that followed were due to premeditated actionon the part of the Punjab government i.e. the arrest of two beloved leaders. Dr Kitchlew warned the Deputy Commissioner that their arrest could lead to violence. In the end, he wrote a letter to his wife asking her to clam the people on his behalf. But the letter, was never delivered to her. 

The citizens of Amritsar went in a procession to Deputy   Commissioner's bunglow. The procession was fired upon in which three to four persons were killed and many more wounded. Soon the news of these killings spread. Thousands of people in Amritsar city went on a rampage and burnt a number of buildings including the Town Hall. They looted the National Bank and killed its manager. Zanana Hospital was attacked. Miss Sharewood was assaulted. An English man was killed at Rego-bridge. The destruction and looting of the city continued till 5.00 PM. The city of Amritsar was put under the military administration of Brigadier General Dyer. Martial Law was proclaimed. On the morning of 13 April Dyer made a proclamation prohibiting processions and meetings. It looks in many parts of the city it was not known. At about the same time a boy was announcing by beating a tin can that a meeting would be held at 4.00 PM in Jallianawala Bagh. 20,000 people gathered in Jallianwala Bagh to protest against the barbarous actions of the Punjab regime, and to demand the release of their leaders. On the 'presidential chair' the picture of their leader-Dr Kitchlew was placed. Soon General Dyer entered with 150 soldiers. No notice was given to the mass of the people to disperse and within three minutes he ordered his troops to fire. In all 1650 rounds were fired from a range of forty to fifty yards. Firing lasted for ten minutes. He stopped firing because ammunition was running low.According to official estimates (The Hunter Committee Report) 379 people were killed and 1200 wounded. General Dyer was directing the shooting where the crowd was the thickest. After the massacre the wounded were left along with the dead to die in agony and no medical assistance was permitted. 

Subsequently a reign of terror was unleashed throughout Punjab. While scores of Punjabis were hanged, imprisoned and flogged, the British accused Dr Kitchlew of being number one in the Amritsar conspiracy case. The whole trial was a farce. He was sentenced to life impresionment but the public opinion in Britain caused the British government to release Dr Kitchlew. The Rowlatt agitation in Amritsar witnessed umprec-edented Muslim participation.  Out of the total 151 sentenced to death from Amritsar city, thirty were Muslims. The accused in the Rego bridge murder case, Mani and Muhammed Shafi were Kashmiri Muslims. Aziz another Kashmiri artisan was sentenced to death in Alliance Bank murder case. Miles Irving, DC of Amritsar in his report attributed rioting to lower classes of Kashmiris. It is interesting that the general Muslim participation in Jallianwala Bagh was low, because Baisakhi was more a religious festival of the Hindus and Sikhs connected with harvesting. Inspite of that Kashmiri Muslims went to attend the meeting to protest against the killings on 10 April. About 52 Muslims were killed in Jallianwala Bagh from  Amritsar city. Of them not less than 13 were Kashmiri Muslims. 

The death of 13 Kashmiri Muslims in The Jallianawala massacre reflects on the popularlity of Dr Kitchlew and also of their political involvement in local politics. The participants in looting and arson on 10 April could be lumpen elements but certainly not those who went to attend the meeting of 13 April in Jallianwala Bagh. The Kashmiris who went there were well aware of the prohibitory orders. How the participation of the Kashmiri Muslims in the agitation transformed the character of the agitation, Dr Amandeep concludes, 'Theleaders in the first round were from the middle classes but soon the agitation passed into the hands of artisans and menials especiallyof Kashmiri origin. They were far more difficult to control than the Hindu Middle Classes who formed majority of the Satyagrahis in other cities.
 

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