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Indian Express
a day ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
As Martyrs' Day triggers a political row in Kashmir, why it remains a flashpoint nearly a century later
On July 13, the Jammu and Kashmir Police – which falls under Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha – placed political leaders, including Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, under house arrest to prevent them from observing 'Martyrs' Day', by paying tributes to the the 22 people killed by the then Dogra regime's forces in 1931. Before J&K's special status was revoked in 2019, July 13 was officially commemorated as Martyrs' Day with a state-wide public holiday. However, J&K's two regions – the Muslim-dominated Kashmir and the Hindu heartland in Jammu – have always viewed the day differently. So what happened on that day, nearly a century ago? Before 22 people were shot and killed outside the Srinagar Central Jail on July 13, 1931, anger had been building up in Kashmir against Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh's forces. On April 21, a police officer was accused of preventing a cleric from delivering the Khutbah – a customary sermon – after Eid prayers in Jammu. In another incident that day, the police and some upper-caste Hindus were reported to have prevented Muslims from using a ground and a water tank, which were in the 'joint possession' of the two communities, for Eid prayers. A few days later, a head constable allegedly desecrated a colleague's Quran. With tempers running high in Kashmir, Hari Singh's political affairs minister, G E C Wakefield, advised him to invite a delegation of Muslims to submit their grievances. Leaders in Kashmir organised a meeting at a shrine in Srinagar to choose their representatives. There, Abdul Qadeer Khan, who worked as a cook for a British military officer, delivered a fiery speech. In his book Kashmir: Exposing the Myth behind the Narrative, historian Khalid Bashir Ahmad writes, 'A protest meeting was held at Khanqah-i-Mualla on June 21, 1931, where tens of thousands of Muslims assembled. The meeting resulted in the formation of a collective leadership… As the meeting was about to close, Abdul Qadeer Khan appeared on the stage and made a speech.' In his autobiography Aatish-e-Chinar (Flames of Chinar), National Conference (NC) founder Sheikh Abdullah said Khan delivered his speech later, at another location. 'After the meeting, the organisers and elected representatives proceeded for tea to Hamdania Middle School. There, one Abdul Qadeer made sparks fly,' Abdullah writes. According to Ahmad's book, Khan said, 'Muslim brethren! The time has now come when we should meet force by greater force to put an end to tyrannies and brutalities to which you are subjected.' Pointing towards the Maharaja's palace, Khan said, 'Raze it to the ground.' Khan was arrested and charged with sedition. On the day his trial got underway at a sessions court, thousands gathered in solidarity. Sensing trouble, the Dogra regime decided to shift the trial to the Srinagar Central Jail, where Khan was lodged. On July 13, 1931, as the trial was about to start, thousands gathered outside the jail, with some forcing their way inside. Prem Nath Bazaz, in his book Inside Kashmir, says there was a confidential order to keep the trial closed to the public. 'But the matter did not remain a secret and within a few minutes it was well known that the trial would be held at the jail. Large crowds gathered before noon on July 13, and when the time of trial came, the crowd had swelled to about 7,000,' Bazaz writes. 'No one realised the significance of Abdul Qadeer's outspokenness. The incident that was to occur on July 13, 1931, had the same impact on our movement that the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre had on the Indian independence movement,' Abdullah writes. 'We pleaded with the people to keep away from the Central Jail… Despite our pleas, hordes of people tried to force their way into the jail.' There are different narratives about what happened before the police opened fire, killing 22 people. Bazaz says 'the mob became uncontrollable and some forced their way into the outer compound (of the jail)', with the District Magistrate ordering the arrest of the mob's 'ring leaders'. But no one tried to pacify or warn the protesters. Prof Ghulam Hassan Khan, in his book Freedom Movement In Kashmir 1931-1940, says around 200 people were peacefully sitting inside the jail premises. 'By 12.30 pm, the muezzin gave a call to prayer… A little later, the District Magistrate, City Munsiff, Superintendent of Police, and Assistant Superintendent of Police arrived. No sooner did they come out of their vehicles than the people began shouting slogans,' Khan writes. 'Of all the officials present… not even one went forward to the crowd to reason with it and pacify it. The official Enquiry Commission, which investigated the affair, deplored this attitude and recorded its opinion that the crowd ought at least to have been told by the District Magistrate that it was a criminal gathering and ran the great risk of a clash with authorities,' Bazaz writes. 'The arrests highly excited the crowd, who demanded the release of their leaders… (The crowd) became infuriated and threw stones. Telephone lines were shaken and subsequently cut. Attempts were made to set fire to the Police Lines… At this stage, the firing was ordered. According to the official report, 10 men were killed and several wounded. It was found on July 26 that 21 persons died as a result of the jail incident,' Bazaz writes. Khan writes: 'Finding that the people were resolute and determined, authorities suddenly stopped firing and the police disappeared. People rushed into the jail compound. They took out bedsteads from the quarters of the jail guards, placed on them the dead and injured, and carried them to the Jamia Masjid.' In his autobiography, Abdullah writes, 'I was sitting quietly when a terrified young man burst into my house and told me of the firing. He said the dead were being brought in a procession towards the city. I was mortified at what this may trigger… Rioting and plundering had started at Zainakadal and Bahorikadal… I learnt that some Muslims, who were taking a dead body to his home, had asked Hindu shopkeepers to pull down their shutters as a mark of respect. They refused. This provided the pretext for anti-social elements to go on a rampage. After the situation had limped back to normal, the police managed to recover property stolen from Hindu shops.' Bazaz, however, has another version. 'The jail firing created great resentment in the mob against Hindus. So when the procession reached Maharaj Gunj, a busy trade centre of the city, Hindu shops that had been closed after the jail incident were broken open and looted,' Bazaz writes. 'Serious rioting followed… Hundreds of Hindu houses and shops were denuded of their contents… Three Hindus were murdered and 163 wounded.' In his book, Ahmad argues that the findings of the Enquiry Commission, set up by the Maharaja, were biased. 'It (the Commission) appeared to be at pains to absolve the men and officers of the government responsible for the killing of unarmed people and throw mud of culpability on the victims. The bias against Muslims freely flowed through the report,' Ahmad writes. 'When Mrs Thakur Das, a Hindu lady, testified through a written statement that 'the sepoys fired without a cause' … her statement was dismissed as a possible outcome of a 'grudge against the government'.'
The Print
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Print
Martyrs' Day row has reopened Kashmir's deepest wounds
For decades, leaders of Kashmir's pro-India parties have cast the 13 July massacre as the moment when the mass movement against the Dogra monarchy began, leading on to Independence. In 2020, though, Martyrs' Day was dropped from the list of official holidays, together with former J&K prime minister Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah's birth anniversary. The government then declared its intention to celebrate Maharaja Hari Singh's birthday instead. On Monday, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah defiantly scaled the walls of the martyrs' graveyard at the shrine of Khwaja Bahauddin Naqshbandi, where 22 protestors who were shot dead by soldiers of Maharaja Hari Singh on 13 July 1931 are buried. Local police, alleged to be acting on the instructions of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, had locked ministers and legislators into their homes and barred a procession to the graveyard. From his office on the banks of the Chenab, Inspector General BCA Lowther patiently watched the detritus of the storm wash up: Three hundred maunds of grain, a little over 11 tonnes, animals, quantities of gold, jewellery, utensils, and, strangely, one gramophone. In Kotli and Seri, Lowther reported , Hindus were 'almost completely destroyed.' Twenty men, or so, had been killed in the rioting of 1932, Dalits had been forced to embrace Islam, and some Sikhs had their hair shaved off. The brigand chief of the mountains, Khima Khan, had supervised the violence, with the help of village Lambardars, or headmen. This project of historical erasure is reopening Kashmir's deepest wounds. The truth is that the events of 1931-1932 were not, as ethnic Kashmiri politicians represent them, a secular revolt. Yet, the Dogra state was also a sectarian monarchy, determined to uphold the Hindu interest over its Muslim subjects. For many Muslims, the message from this Martyrs' Day is that it doesn't matter who the community votes for: Kashmir's identity and history will be decided by Hindu nationalist power, not their democratic choices. The debate Kashmir does desperately need — on identity, religion, and on the wounds that decades have done so little to heal — has been placed even further out of reach. The battle at the jail For much of the summer of 1931, tensions had been building up: First, a constable at the Jammu Central Jail was accused of desecrating the Quran, and then torn pages of the book were found in a Srinagar drain. Then, Abdul Qadeer, an ethnic-Punjabi cook serving a European visitor, was charged with delivering a seditious speech at the Shah-e-Hamdan shrine in Srinagar. Large crowds gathered to support Abdul Qadeer as he was driven to the trial court. An official inquiry into the events was recorded, and so authorities decided to conduct the trial inside the prison. Then, on the morning of 13 July 1931, police opened fire on thousands of protestors massed at the prison gates. The crowd, as it bore the dead bodies through Maharajganj, looted Hindu-owned shops. Local Muslims alleged that Hindus later retaliated by attacking their properties, with the help of troops. For a complete understanding of why tensions around religion exploded in 1931, historian Chitralekha Zutshi has argued, the broader context is key. From the late 1920s, the Great Depression had begun to choke Kashmir's economy. Agricultural prices fell, leading rural workers to seek work in the cities. The urban factories, though, were in crisis. Through the countryside, Zutshi writes, moneylenders were foreclosing loans and taking over the lands of peasants. Twenty-six years old in 1931, a graduate with a Master's degree in science from Aligarh and employed in Kashmir's education department, Sheikh Abdullah was part of an embryonic class of middle class Muslims seeking political representation and power. From the 1920s, Abdullah had been at the forefront of a group advocating for more job opportunities for Muslims. MK Gandhi's arrest in the summer of 1930 had seen Kashmir shut down in solidarity, a sign of emerging mass politics. From the court's perspective, there was another issue. In March 1931, Mirwaiz Atiqullah of Srinagar, the hereditary spiritual leader of the city's Muslims and a key supporter of the Maharaja, had passed away. A bitter succession struggle ensued, with Yusuf Shah battling Muhammad Ahmadullah Hamadani, the representative of a rival branch of the family. Even though the job was not one that had a genuine popular base, the rising tide of religious tension would propel him to leadership of a movement that was just beginning to form. Also read: India needs to focus on winning in Kashmir, not fighting Pakistan Fighting for the faith Like most of India's princely states, Kashmir had high taxes and spent more on the upkeep of the monarchy than on education, healthcare, and public infrastructure. This hurt both Hindus and Muslims, but, as historian Mridu Rai has written, the Dogra state went to some lengths to assert its religious credentials. For example, cow-killing carried a ten-year prison sentence, while goat sacrifices were banned except on just a few, specified days. Those who chose to convert to Islam lost their rights to inherit ancestral lands. Kashmir's foreign minister, Albion Rajkumar Banerji, famously said that the state's Muslims were treated like 'dumb, driven cattle.' Even though Muslims made up more than half of Kashmir's population, historian Ian Copland records, Hindus and Sikhs held 78 per cent of gazetted appointments compared to the 22 per cent for Muslims. The Tehsildars of Kotli and Rajouri, the Naib Tehsildars of Bhimber, Naoshera, Kotli and Rajouri, and the Superintendent and Deputy-Superintendent of Police at Kotli were all Hindu or Sikh. In Mirpur, over nine out of ten Patwaris, or land record keepers, were Kashmiri Brahmins. For a range of political forces in Punjab, this pool of resentment represented opportunity. The Khalifa, or chief, of the Ahmadiyya sect, Mirza Bashir-ud-din Mahmud Ahmad, ordered a concerted missionary push. Gurdaspur, the Ahmadiyya headquarters, was close to Jammu, and the sect claimed that Jesus Christ, revered by all Muslims as a prophet, had been buried in Srinagar. Funding from the Ahmadiyya enabled Sheikh Abdullah to resign his job, Copland writes, and commit himself full-time to politics. The Majlis-e-Ahrar — which, among other things, would spearhead the movement to proscribe Ahmadiyya as non-Muslims in Pakistan — similarly thought it had found an issue on which it could distinguish itself from other parties. The Muslim League and Punjab's powerful Unionists were allied with the Raj. The Majlis styled themselves as revolutionaries, opposing the presence of the British and the traditional rule of landlords and princes. Also read: Definite change in Kashmir. Violence exists only because terrorists have adapted, Army hasn't A problematic legacy Facing widespread resistance, the Dogra regime unleashed coercion. Late in September, Sheikh Abdullah was arrested. Five men protesting his arrest were shot dead in Srinagar, and another 22 Muslims were killed in Anantnag. The next day, Muslims in Shopian turned on the police, beating up guards posted outside the town's mosque for Friday prayers. Pandit Hari Kishan Kaul and his brother Daya Kishan Kaul, the Maharaja's key advisors, responded by imposing martial law. Local Muslims were forced to wear rosettes in royal colours, Copland writes, and over a hundred were publicly flogged. Events moved rapidly toward a crisis. The Muslims of Mirpur and Jammu came out on the streets in response to the state's violence, demanding Sheikh Abdullah's release. Large crowds demanded that the Maharaja concede to their calls for religious liberties, restitution for riot victims, and proportional representation in the civil services. The shaken British resident in Srinagar, Courtney Latimer, forecast 'widespread rebellion.' The legacy of the 1931-1932 crisis is profoundly complex. There's little doubt religion had played a key role in fostering political consciousness in Kashmir. For generations afterward, it would exercise an often-poisonous influence on public life. Few politicians in the region, either Hindu or Muslim, have made a serious effort to acknowledge, let alone exercise, the profound impact of communalism on Kashmir's public life. Yet, the events of 1931 were also the foundations on which Kashmir's accession to India was built. The end of the crisis saw the establishment of a legislature in Kashmir, although with a franchise limited to those paying Rs 20 a year in land revenue. Muslims made genuine gains, especially in education and representation. For his part, Abdullah transitioned away from the chauvinism of the forces that shaped 1931, allying himself with the Indian National Congress and the broader freedom movement. Seeking to erase 1931 killings from Kashmir's political memory is to tell the Valley's Muslims that they are condemned to suffer a lesser kind of citizenship. From there, the road heads inexorably back to an ugly, fractured past. The author is Contributing Editor at ThePrint. His X handle is @praveenswami. Views are personal. (Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)
India Gazette
14-07-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
"We are nobody's slaves": Abdullah slams restrcitions imposed on visiting Naqshband Sahib graveyard
Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], July 14 (ANI): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday trained guns at the JK police for trying to stop him from reciting Fatiha (prayers) in the memory of 22 'martyrs' who were killed for protesting against Maharaja Hari Singh's rule. 'We are nobody's slaves,' Abdullah asserted, adding that he must be informed under which law he was stopped from visiting the Mazar-e-Shuhada in Srinagar's Naqshband Sahib. The Jammu and Kashmir CM said that despite attempts to stop him, he was able to recite prayers. 'I want to know under which law I was stopped. Restrictions were imposed only yesterday. They say that this is a free country, but they think that we are their slaves. We are nobody's slaves. We are only the slaves of the people here. We foiled their attempts. They tried to tear our flag. But we came here and recited the Fatiha. They forget that these graves will always remain here. They stopped us on July 13, but for how long can they continue to do so? We will come here whenever we want and remember the martyrs,' Abdullah told reporters here. The CM claimed that everyone was put under 'house arrest' and bunkers were installed outside his residence after he expressed the will to recite prayers at the Naqshband Sahib graveyard. He said that this is why he visited the 'martyrs' graveyard' today without informing. 'It is unfortunate that, by the orders of those who claim their responsibility is to maintain law and order, we were not allowed to recite the Fatiha yesterday. Everyone was house-arrested since the morning. When I told the control room that I wanted to come here to recite Fatiha, bunkers were installed outside my house within minutes. And they remained there till 12-1 AM. Today, I came here without informing them. Look at their shamelessness; they tried to stop us again today. These police personnel sometimes forget to follow the law,' Abdullah said. Abdullah jumped over the boundary wall of Mazar-e-Shuhada in Srinagar's Naqshband Sahib to offer prayers after allegedly being stopped by the security forces. The development came a day after the Jammu and Kashmir Police sealed the Martyrs' cemetery and confined top political leaders, including Abdullah, inside their residences, barring them from visiting the Martyrs' Graveyard (Mazar-e-Shuhada), to mark the anniversary of the protesters shot dead by Maharaja Hari Singh's Dogra forces on July 13, 1931. Abdullah said that he did not inform anyone before visiting the Mazar-e-Shuhada since he was house arrested yesterday on Kashmir Martyrs' Day. '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 m,e but I was not going to be stopped today,' Abdullah posted on X. The graveyard is attached to the shrine of Khwaja Bahawuddin Naqshbandi. Earlier today, the Chief Minister expressed anguish over the lack of media coverage in local newspapers on the issue of 'the entire elected government being locked up'. 'Take a look at our local newspapers - both from Jammu and from Srinagar, English & vernacular. You'll be able to distinguish the cowards from the ones with guts. The cowards have completely buried the fact that the entire elected government was locked up yesterday, along with most elected representatives. The newspapers with some guts have put it on the front page. Shame on the sellouts who buried the story, I hope the size of the envelope was worth it,' Abdullah posted on X. Abdullah also came down heavily on the 'unelected nominees of New Delhi' for allegedly locking up the elected representatives of Jammu and Kashmir. Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA Mohamad Yousuf Tarigami also posted on X, saying, 'A padlock on my gate, placed under house arrest and denied the right to pay homage to the July 13 martyrs. This day is etched in our collective memory -- a reminder of those who laid down their lives for the restoration of democracy and a better future for us all,' Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) chief spokesperson and Zadibal MLA Tanvir Sadiq had also alleged that the elected representatives in the union territory were detained inside their homes to stop them from paying tribute to the martyrs. 'Since last night, I like many of my colleagues, including the party leadership at Gupkar, the Advisor to the Chief Minister, and a majority of sitting MLAs have been locked inside my home. This is not just unfortunate; it is a deliberate attempt to suppress remembrance and deny us the right to honour the martyrs of July 13. Such actions are not only unnecessary they are unjustified, deeply insensitive, and reveal a troubling disregard for history,' Sadiq posted on X. After not being allowed to visit the martyrs' graveyard, People's Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti said that the 'dil ki doori (distance of hearts)' between Kashmir and the rest of India would end when the Centre accepts Kashmir's heroes as its own, just as Kashmiris have embraced national figures. 'The day you accept our heroes as your own just as Kashmiris have embraced yours, from Mahatma Gandhi to Bhagat Singh, that day, as Prime Minister Modi once said, the 'dil ki doori' (distance of hearts) will truly end,' the PDP chief wrote on X. 'When you lay siege to the Martyrs' Graveyard, lock people in their homes to prevent them from visiting Mazar-e-Shuhada, it speaks volumes. July 13 commemorates our martyrs, those who rose against tyranny, much like countless others across the country. They will always be our heroes,' she added. Martyrs' Day in Kashmir which was earlier observed as an official holiday in the State was delisted after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. (ANI)
The Print
14-07-2025
- Politics
- The Print
J&K CM Omar Abdullah hops fence to reach Martyrs' cemetery, says ‘unelected govt' tried to block him
Abdullah said that he did not inform anyone before visiting the Mazar-e-Shuhada since he was house arrested yesterday on Kashmir Martyrs' Day. A development came a day after the Jammu and Kashmir Police sealed the Martyrs' cemetery and confined top political leaders, including Abdullah, inside their residences. barring them from visiting the Martyrs' Graveyard (Mazar-e-Shuhada), to mark the anniversary of the protesters shot dead by Maharaja Hari Singh's Dogra forces on July 13, 1931. Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday jumped over the boundary wall of Mazar-e-Shuhada in Srinagar's Naqshband Sahib to offer prayers after allegedly being stopped by the security forces. '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,' Abdullah posted on X. The graveyard is attached to the shrine of Khwaja Bahawuddin Naqshbandi. Earlier today, the Chief Minister expressed anguish over the lack of media coverage in local newspapers on the issue of 'the entire elected government being locked up'. 'Take a look at our local newspapers – both from Jammu and from Srinagar, English & vernacular. You'll be able to distinguish the cowards from the ones with guts. The cowards have completely buried the fact that the entire elected government was locked up yesterday, along with most elected representatives. The newspapers with some guts have put it on the front page. Shame on the sellouts who buried the story, I hope the size of the envelope was worth it,' Abdullah posted on X. Abdullah also came down heavily on the 'unelected nominees of New Delhi' for allegedly locking up the elected representatives of Jammu and Kashmir. Taking to X, the Chief Minister shared pictures of police outside his residence, with armoured vehicles parked and movement restricted, as the regional parties, including the National Conference (NC), were denied permission to visit the martyrs' graveyard in Srinagar. 'To borrow from the late Arun Jaitley Sb – Democracy in J&K is a tyranny of the unelected. To put it in terms you will all understand today the unelected nominees of New Delhi locked up the elected representatives of the people of J-K,' Abdullah posted on X. Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA Mohamad Yousuf Tarigami also posted on X, saying, 'A padlock on my gate, placed under house arrest and denied the right to pay homage to the July 13 martyrs. This day is etched in our collective memory — a reminder of those who laid down their lives for the restoration of democracy and a better future for us all,' Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) chief spokesperson and Zadibal MLA Tanvir Sadiq had also alleged that the elected representatives in the union territory were detained inside their homes to stop them from paying tribute to the martyrs. 'Since last night, I like many of my colleagues, including the party leadership at Gupkar, the Advisor to the Chief Minister, and a majority of sitting MLAs have been locked inside my home. This is not just unfortunate; it is a deliberate attempt to suppress remembrance and deny us the right to honour the martyrs of July 13. Such actions are not only unnecessary they are unjustified, deeply insensitive, and reveal a troubling disregard for history,' Sadiq posted on X. After not being allowed to visit the martyrs' graveyard, People's Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti said that the 'dil ki doori (distance of hearts)' between Kashmir and the rest of India would end when the Centre accepts Kashmir's heroes as its own, just as Kashmiris have embraced national figures. 'The day you accept our heroes as your own just as Kashmiris have embraced yours, from Mahatma Gandhi to Bhagat Sing, that day, as Prime Minister Modi once said, the 'dil ki doori' (distance of hearts) will truly end,' the PDP chief wrote on X. 'When you lay siege to the Martyrs' Graveyard, lock people in their homes to prevent them from visiting Mazar-e-Shuhada, it speaks volumes. July 13 commemorates our martyrs, those who rose against tyranny, much like countless others across the country. They will always be our heroes,' she added. Martyrs' Day in Kashmir which was earlier observed as an official holiday in the State was delisted after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. (ANI) This report is auto-generated from ANI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content. Also Read: J&K will be given the status of a state by PM Modi, says CM Omar Abdullah
NDTV
13-07-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
"What A Shame": Omar Abdullah Slams House Arrests On Kashmir Martyrs' Day
Srinagar: Several ministers in the Omar Abdullah-led Jammu and Kashmir government, MLAs and top leaders of the ruling party and the Opposition were put under house arrest or detained to prevent them from observing Kashmir Martyrs' Day today. The administration of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha denied permission for any event to mark the anniversary of the 1931 July 13 killings in Kashmir during a protest against Hari Singh, ruler of the then princely state of Jammu and Kashmir under British paramountcy. The Union Territory administration imposed restrictions in several parts of Srinagar and warned of strict action against anyone who tried to proceed towards the Martyrs' Graveyard. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah strongly condemned the restrictions and house arrests. "13th July massacre is our Jallianwala Bagh. The people who laid down their lives did so against the British. Kashmir was being ruled under the British Paramountcy. What a shame that true heroes who fought against British rule in all its forms are today projected as villains only because they were Muslims. We may be denied the opportunity to visit their graves today, but we will not forget their sacrifices," Mr Abdullah said in a post on X. Mehbooba Mufti, PDP leader and former Chief Minister, said the "dil ki doori" Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about will truly end the "day you accept our heroes as your own just as Kashmiris have embraced yours, from Mahatma Gandhi to Bhagat Singh". "When you lay siege to the Martyrs' Graveyard, lock people in their homes to prevent them from visiting Mazar-e-Shuhada, it speaks volumes. July 13th commemorates our martyrs those who rose against tyranny, much like countless others across the country. They will always be our heroes," she said. Sajad Lone, MLA and chief of Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference, said he had been put under house arrest. "I don't know why the union government is so keen to redefine what is sacred for the people of Kashmir. The sacrifices rendered on July 13 are sacred for all of us," he said on X, adding, "Histories that are etched in blood don't vanish". Earlier, the National Conference wrote to the Lieutenant Governor, urging him to restore the public holiday on July 13 in memory of those killed in the 1931 protest. But this request was turned down, and the district magistrate denied permission to hold any event. What Happened On July 13, 1931 July 13 is an epochal day in the history of Kashmir. On this day in 1931, a group of Kashmiris were protesting outside the Srinagar jail. They were supporters of Abdul Qadeer, who had called on Kashmiris to rise against Dogra ruler Hari Singh. He was charged with sedition. On July 13, a large group of protesters gathered outside the prison where Abdul Qadeer was being held. Faced with the protesters, the Maharaja's forces opened fire, killing 22 people. The July 13 killings triggered massive protests and forced the Dogra ruler and the British to look into the grievances of the Muslim community in the Valley. The first Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir were also a political fallout of the July 13 killings. These polls marked the beginning of the democratic process in Jammu and Kashmir after centuries of autocratic rule, even though the Maharaja had sweeping powers. What Has Changed Earlier, police personnel gave a gun salute and floral tributes were offered at the Martyrs' Graveyard on July 13 every year. Political leaders would pay tributes and hold public meetings in memory of those killed in 1931. But ever since the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was revoked in 2019 and the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two Union territories, the administration has prohibited any function at the Martyrs' graveyard. Since 2020, July 13 and December 5 -- former Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister and Chief Minister Sheikh Abdullah's birth anniversary -- have been dropped as official holidays. Instead, the birth anniversary of Hari Singh is now a public holiday in Jammu and Kashmir.
