Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday strongly criticised the administration for allegedly preventing him from offering Fatiha (prayers) at the Mazar-e-Shuhada in Srinagar’s Naqshband Sahib, where the 22 martyrs of July 13, 1931, are buried.
Abdullah accused the authorities of treating elected representatives like “slaves” and demanded clarity on the legal basis for restricting access to the graveyard on Kashmir Martyrs’ Day. “We are nobody’s slaves,” he asserted, questioning, “Under which law was I stopped?”
Despite the restrictions, Abdullah managed to visit the graveyard and offer prayers. “They blocked the gate… forcing me to scale a wall. They tried to physically grapple me, but I was not going to be stopped today,” he later wrote on X, sharing his account of the incident.
He also alleged that security bunkers were placed outside his residence after he expressed the intention to visit the graveyard. “They remained there till late in the night. Today I came without informing them,” he added.
The police action came after authorities reportedly sealed the Martyrs’ Graveyard and placed key political leaders under house arrest, barring them from commemorating the victims of the 1931 firing by Maharaja Hari Singh’s forces.
Abdullah further criticised local media for allegedly downplaying the mass detentions. “Some newspapers buried the fact that the entire elected government was locked up… I hope the size of the envelope was worth it,” he said in a sharp post.
He also lashed out at what he called the “unelected nominees of New Delhi” for undermining democratic institutions in the region.
Leaders across party lines, including CPI(M) MLA Yousuf Tarigami and JKNC spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq, echoed Abdullah’s sentiments, calling the restrictions a denial of democratic rights and an insensitive move to erase historical remembrance.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the actions, urging the Centre to embrace Kashmir’s martyrs the way Kashmiris have embraced Indian national heroes. “Only then will the ‘dil ki doori’ truly end,” she said.
Martyrs’ Day, once a public holiday in Jammu and Kashmir, was removed from the official calendar after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.