Ehmetjan was born in Ghulja (Yining in Chinese) in 1914. He studied at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East, Moscow in 1936 and was a member of Communist Party of Soviet Union. Ehmetjan was described as "Stalin's man" and as a "communist-minded progressive".[3] Qasim Russified his surname to "Kasimov" and became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.