Thursday, April 8, 2010

8 APRIL

1899 - Apolinario Mabini, Prime Minister of the fledgling Philippine Republic, writes to President Emilio Aguinaldo informing him that the latter's first cousin, Don Baldomero Aguinaldo, is willing to be relieved from the Department of War to avoid trouble with General Antonio Luna, Chief of Operations; While the Philippine-American War rages, President Aguinaldo will have Gen. Luna, his looming rival in the military hierarchy, assassinated within two months.

1924 - Turkish decree dismantles Islamic law courts amidst the host of secularization measures adopted by the former Ottoman Empire over a period of several years, which will apparently culminate with a constitutional amendment dropping Islam as the state religion in 1928; On October 29 the previous year the Ottoman Empire was officially ended as the Turkish Republic was declared.

1953 - Jomo Kenyatta, the head of the Kenyan Independence movement, is convicted by the African nation's British rulers of leading the extremist Mau Mau in their violence against white settlers and the colonial government; Kenyatta, a nonviolent and conservative nationalist leader, will be imprisoned for 9 years but will later lead negotiations with the British on the issue of Kenya's self-rule

1964 - "Lion of Kashmir" Sheik Muhammad Abdullah is released from prison and promptly denounces the policy of India towards Kashmir which, along with Jammu, he had led as Prime Minister; Abdullah, leader of the National Conference, Kashmir's largest political party, will nevertheless meet with Indian President Nehru in a discussion on the future of Kashmir state.

No comments: