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Video: Omar Abdullah scales wall to reach Martyrs' Graveyard day after 'house arrest'

Video: Omar Abdullah scales wall to reach Martyrs' Graveyard day after 'house arrest'

India Today14-07-2025
In a defiant move against the Centre, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday climbed a railing along with his cabinet ministers to visit the Martyrs' Graveyard in Nowhatta and pay floral tributes.In the video, Abdullah can be seen marching toward the graveyard along with his cabinet ministers, surrounded by police and security personnel. As the gate appeared to be locked, Abdullah climbed over it and scaled the wall to enter the graveyard.advertisementSharing the video, Abdullah wrote on X: "Paid my respects & offered Fatiha at the graves of the martyrs of 13th July 1931. The unelected government tried to block my way forcing me to walk from Nawhatta chowk. They blocked the gate to Naqshband Sb shrine forcing me to scale a wall. They tried to physically grapple me but I was not going to be stopped today."
This comes a day after the administration of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha barred leaders from holding any event commemorating the anniversary of the July 13, 1931 killings during protests against the then-ruler of the princely state, Hari Singh.Several leaders from the ruling National Conference Party (NCP) were put under house arrest on Sunday in a bid to stop them from marking Martyrs' Day today.July 13 is commemorated as 'Martyrs Day' in Jammu and Kashmir as a tribute to 22 people killed by the Dogra army outside Srinagar's central jail in 1931. The Lt Governor-led administration had dropped the day from the list of gazetted holidays in 2020.In an earlier post, Abdullah had compared the 1931 killings to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. "What a shame that true heroes who fought against British rule... are today projected as villains," he tweeted.In response, BJP national general secretary and Jammu and Kashmir in-charge Tarun Chugh slammed Abdullah for likening the 1931 killings to the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy.'That was colonial brutality against unarmed civilians. July 13 was a communal mob trying to burn down the order. Do not insult our freedom movement by twisting facts,' he said.'This is not martyrdom. This is a cover-up of Islamist violence. And it's coming from the same man whose party stayed silent when Kashmiri Pandits were driven out at gunpoint (in 1990),' Chugh added.- EndsInputs from PTI
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