By John Bray

The passing of the writer and historian Abdul Ghani Sheikh leaves an immense gap in the lives of his family and innumerable friends as well as the wider Ladakh studies community. Born in 1936, he was himself a witness to history in that he had lived through the traumas of Partition in 1947 and the period of accelerating political and social change that followed. In his short stories and in his historical research, he wrote with insight and compassion. To many of us, he served as a mentor and a friend. Here I would like to share a note about his association with the IALS.

In 1989, Sheikh Sahib travelled to the UK for the IALS conference at the University of Bristol, which was organised by Dr Henry Osmaston. Although this was the fourth in the series of Ladakh studies conferences, it was the first to be held specifically under the auspices of the IALS. Sheikh Sahib presented a paper on “A Brief History of Muslims in Ladakh”. The other Ladakhi contributors in Bristol were Jamyang Gyaltsen, Dr Nawang Tsering, Nawang Tsering Shakspo, and Sonam Wangchuk (SECMOL).

Thereafter, Sheikh Sahib became a regular presenter at IALS conferences both in Ladakh and abroad. The last international conference in which he participated was in Rome in 2007. Always eager to expand his international horizons, he managed to stop over in Istanbul on the return journey and made contact with a Uighur friend who lived in Turkey but had long family associations with Ladakh.

Shiekh Sahib’s list of IALS publications is representative of his special interests. By virtue of his background, he naturally placed a particular focus on the history of Ladakhi Muslims and on Ladakh’s relationships with Central Asia and other neighbouring regions. However, he always took a broad view of Ladakhi society. His other writings included a biography of the Ladakhi Buddhist leader Sonam Norboo (1909-1980) and he often expressed appreciation for the contributions of the Moravian community.

In the early 2000s, Sheikh Sahib served as the Hon Secretary of the IALS’s Ladakh Committee. I particularly remember working with him to secure the participation of two Balti scholars, Syed Bahadur Ali Salik and Ghulam Hasan Hasni, at the IALS conference in Kargil in 2005. This involved writing invitation letters and supporting documentation to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad as well as the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi and – at the very last minute – the then Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh. Eventually, we were successful but the two Baltis only arrived in Kargil on the very last day of the conference.

Over the years, many of us benefitted from the hospitality of Sheikh Sahib and his family at the Yasmin Guesthouse, now the Grand Yasmin Ladakh, near Fort Road. Whether at his home or in one of Leh’s restaurants and coffee houses, it was always a delight to meet him. He was consistently unassuming, always perceptive, sometimes quite sharp in his observations. We have lost one of the best of friends.

Abdul Ghani Sheikh’s publications under the auspices of the IALS

1995. “A Brief History of Muslims in Ladakh.” In Recent Research on Ladakh 4 & 5, pp. 189-192. Edited by Henry Osmaston and Philip Denwood. London: School of Oriental and African Studies; Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

1996. “Some Wellknown Adventurers of Ladakh.” In Recent Research on Ladakh 6, pp. 231-238. Edited by Henry Osmaston and Nawang Tsering. Bristol: Bristol University Press; Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

1997. “Ladakh’s Relations with Central Asia.” In Recent Research on Ladakh 7, pp.447-456. Edited by Thierry Dodin and Heinz Räther. Ulmer Kulturanthropologische Schriften Band 8. Ulm: Abteilung Anthropologie, Universität Ulm.

1999. “Economic Conditions in Ladakh during the Dogra Period.” In Ladakh: Culture, History and Development, between Himalaya and Karakoram. Recent Research on Ladakh 8, pp. 339-349. Edited by Martijn van Beek, Kristoffer Brix Bertelsen and Poul Pedersen. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press.

2007. “Transformation of Kuksho Village.” In Recent Research on Ladakh 7, pp. 163-170. Edited by John Bray and Nawang Tsering Shakspo. Leh: Jammu & Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture & Languages.

2009. “Kargil from the Perspective of Historical Travellers and Government Officials.” In Recent Research on Ladakh 2009, pp. 39-45. Edited by Monisha Ahmed & John Bray. Kargil & Leh: International Association of Ladakh Studies.

2009. “The Traditions of Sufism in Ladakh.” In Mountains, Monasteries and Mosques. Recent Research on Ladakh and the Western Himalaya, pp. 131-139. Edited by John Bray & Elena De Rossi Filibeck. Supplement No. 2 to Rivista degli Studi Orientali 80 (New Series). Pisa & Rome: Sapienza, Università di Roma, Dipartimento di Studi Orientali.