Being a staunch supporter of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Ahmad Khan was jailed for his underground political activities and died on 4 April 1956 after his release.
In his Weekly Khalid (April 1956), Khwaja Sadruddin Mujahid, editor, and jailmate of Ghulam Ahmad Khan along with Ghulam Mohiuddin Shah, alleged that the illness and subsequent death of his friend was caused by slow poisoning in the Central Jail of Srinagar (See Ishaq,Crisis of a Kashmiri Muslim: Spiritual and Intellectual).
[1] He was nominated as Member of the Indian Council of Historical Research by the Government of India, and presided over the Punjab History Congress (Medieval Section) in 2001.
Historians, social scientists and littérateurs who have highlighted the contribution of Ishaq Khan to historical research in various publications are: Professors Mohibbul Hasan, T.N.
Madan, Richard Maxwell Eaton, Harbans Mukhia, Mushirul Hasan, Christian W Troll, Barbara Metcalf, Gail Minaul, S. Gopal, Annemerie Schimmel, Ayesha Jalal, Sugata Bose, Mirdu Rai, Chitrilekha Zutshi, Frank Colonon, B.K.
Naqvi, Gregory C. Kozlowski, Stephen Frederic Dale, Andrew Rippin, Trimothy G.Reagan, Juan Eduardo, Johan Elverskog, Anna Libera Dallapiccola, Stephaine Zingel, Knut A. Jacobsen, Carla Bellarny, Jamal Malik, Anna Aknsoy, Ali Sutaan Asami, Bhagwan Josh, P. Sahadevan.
Madan observed: “Khan chose to tread this straight but often difficult path of Islamic piety and the pursuit of knowledge many years ago, and has done so with steadfast step and distinction...I have high regard for Professor Mohammad Ishaq Khan and I greatly value his scholarly contributions.” Foreword to Crisis of a Kashmiri Muslim: Spiritual and Historical The writer Pankaj Mishra writes :“Dr.
He is a small, round-faced man, gentle in demeanor; he speaks slowly, as if unaccustomed to talking much of his work, but in clear qualified sentences that indicate a quietly active mind.