SRINAGAR: Several political leaders including two former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday said they faced restrictions regarding their commemorative activities to observe the ‘Martyrs’ Day’.
The leaders said they were scheduled to pay homage to 22 Kashmiri people who were killed by the Dogra army on July 13, 1931.
Former CM and National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah alleged that he was denied his “security cover”, while another former CM and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said she was placed under “house arrest”. Both said they won’t allow attempts to distort history or forget their “heroes”.
“Dear @JmuKmr Police don’t think that refusing to give me my escort vehicles & ITBP cover will stop me. I’ll walk to where I have to get to & that’s exactly what I’m doing now,” Omar, according to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), wrote on his Twitter handle.
The NC leader in a series of tweets accused the Jammu and Kashmir Police of refusing him his security escort vehicles and ITBP cover, saying that he will walk to where he had to get to.
Alleging that his other senior party leaders were too barred from coming to the National Conference office, Omar on his Twitter handle wrote, “Now that I’ve got to the office & will go ahead with my programme you will send everything. The fact is @JmuKmr Police has stopped a lot of my senior colleagues from coming to the @JKNC_office today by adopting the same tactics of stopping them in their homes. Notable amongst those stopped are Abdul Rahim Rather Sb, @AliMSagar_Sb, Ali Mohd Dar Sb and others.”
Earlier in the day, in a video released by the NC party on their official Twitter handle, they said their vice president Omar Abdullah was walking towards the party office without his “escort and security vehicles”.
“Despite the restrictions placed on JKNC Vice President @OmarAbdullah, which denied him security vehicles and ITBP cover, he chose to walk from his home to the Nawai Subh office. His purpose was to address the party workers who had gathered there to pay their heartfelt tributes to the 1931 Martyrs,” the JKNC tweeted.
Mehbooba Mufti also posted a video on her social media handles Facebook and Twitter, alleging she is under “house arrest” for wanting to visit ‘Martyr’s Graveyard’ in Srinagar.
“This at a time when GOI has used its tall claims of normalcy in SC to justify an act of betrayal- the illegal abrogation of Article 370,” Mufti wrote on her Twitter handle.
Showing the main gate of her house as locked from the outside and a policeman not on video telling her that they have orders from higher-ups, the PDP chief in the tweet mentioned, “For us those who sacrificed their lives for democracy to take root in J&K will always be admired for their act of courage. We won’t allow you to distort our history or forget our heroes. On the occasion of Martyrs Day, I salute their courage for valiantly fighting against despots to the end.”
Criticizing the BJP, Mufti wrote, “BJPs own heroes Vir Sarvarkar, Shyama Prasad Mukheriji ,Gowalkar & Godse who spread hatred & divison can’t be forced on us.”
Meanwhile, after attending the function at party headquarters for paying homage to the ‘July 13, 1931 martyrs’, Omar told reporters that he had no intention of “marching” by foot, neither is he habitual of orchestrating any “drama”.
“They had a purpose that I should not be able to reach the office today to pay homage to martyrs of 13 July. I was compelled to come by foot as all of my vehicles were stopped and if the police repeat and do the same, I would have no choice but to take similar steps,” he said.
In response to a question that earlier July 13 was being observed as a state holiday, the former CM replied that the governments change and their decisions too change.
“Today one holiday has been canceled and another has been declared. No worries, that era will too change. Like they changed several holidays by using the pen and declared several; similarly the new government will come and do the same,” he said.
However, so far J&K Police have not responded to Omar Abdullah or Mehbooba Mufti’s allegations.
Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference (JKPC) on its Twitter handle said they were disturbed by the authorities’ decision to “restrict” the Provincial President Kashmir Khursheed Alam from paying homage to the ‘July 13 martyrs’.
“Disturbed by the authorities’ decision to restrict the @JKPC_ Provincial President Kashmir Mr @Khurshid_AlamJK’s movement from paying homage to the martyrs of Kashmir at Mazhar-e-Shohada in Khanyar today Remembering & honoring those who sacrificed their lives for their homeland is a fundamental right that should be respected,” the JKPC tweeted.
Altaf Bukhari, president of the Apni Party, said that they too “are among the common men”. “We were also barred from visiting the martyrs’ graveyard today like every other common person,” he said.
The erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir used to observe July 13 as ‘Martyrs Day’ to mark the killing of 22 Kashmiri people who were shot dead by the army of a Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh on this day.
For the fourth consecutive year since the abrogation of Article 370, no function has been allowed to commemorate the day. July 13 also used to be a state holiday in J&K, but after 5 August 2019, the UT administration dropped ‘Martyrs’ Day’ from the list of gazetted holidays.