SRINAGAR/JAMMU: J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah was barred Sunday from visiting a graveyard of 1931 martyrs in Srinagar, and most of his cabinet colleagues were detained in their homes along with scores of others to keep them away from the site, virtually putting the National Conference (NC) govt under lockdown.
Among the other key political figures J&K police confined to their homes were Omar’s father and NC president Farooq Abdullah, former ex-CM Mehbooba Mufti and Peoples Conference chief and MLA Sajad Lone.
Omar called the restrictions a “shame” and described “13th July massacre as our Jallianwala Bagh” as he slammed the first such clampdown since his govt took charge in Oct 2024. The Omar-led govt does not control police or security, whose reins are in the hands of the Centre-appointed lieutenant governor (LG) Manoj Sinha, an arrangement that took shape after the 2019 abrogation of J&K’s special status under Article 370.
Nasir Aslam Wani, Omar’s political adviser, said the CM had been outside J&K and returned to Srinagar on Sunday but was not allowed to proceed towards Naqshband Sahib, the resting place of 22 people killed during an uprising against Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh on July 13, 1931. The date is significant in Kashmir’s history.
According to Wani, Omar remained in his house after being stopped. Deputy CM Surinder Choudhary of NC was in Jammu but his Srinagar house was locked. Wani said he himself had been shut in since 3 am Sunday. “An elected government was placed under house detention in J&K by the very people who hailed the 2024 assembly elections as a triumph of democracy. The irony is not just strange, it is tragic,” NC spokesman Tanvir Sadiq told TOI.
Omar expressed anger, calling the curbs “blatantly undemocratic” with troops deployed as jailers and major bridges in Srinagar blocked. “I will never understand what the law-and-order govt is so afraid of,” Omar said in a swipe at authorities under LG Sinha.
Since early Sunday, authorities shut down major routes. Security was tightened at Gupkar Road , home to top politicians including Farooq, Omar, education minister Sakina Itoo and CPM MLA MY Tarigami. I too posted that she had been “put under house arrest since last (Saturday) night”. The NC head office was sealed with concertina wire. PDP office was shut, too. A popular Sunday flea market in the Lal Chowk area was not allowed. All roads leading to the graveyard at Naqshband Sahib were closed. Senior cops were at the site.
Amid the restrictions, Omar sought to counter the established narrative on the 1931 uprising by likening it to Jallianwala Bagh and claiming it was against the British. “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,” the CM posted.
PDP chief Mehbooba called for “acceptance” of the martyrs. “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,” Mehbooba said. Former PDP minister Naeem Akhtar, also locked in, posted that “it feels like we are in 1931”.
In Jammu, the BJP leader of opposition, Sunil Sharma, sought to contest projections of the 1931 episode as martyrdom. He had sparked bedlam in the assembly this March by calling the martyrs “traitors”. “Communal violence was given a false narrative of martyrdom. The recent remarks by Omar, equating Islamist rioters with freedom fighters, are an insult to the nation and its true freedom struggle,” Sharma said Sunday.
Deputy CM Choudhary hit back with a veiled jab at the BJP. “If they admire Nathuram Godse, who killed Mahatma Gandhi, what’s wrong in remembering the July 13 martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the rights of people?” Choudhary asked as NC functionaries in Jammu paid tributes.
Among the other key political figures J&K police confined to their homes were Omar’s father and NC president Farooq Abdullah, former ex-CM Mehbooba Mufti and Peoples Conference chief and MLA Sajad Lone.
Omar called the restrictions a “shame” and described “13th July massacre as our Jallianwala Bagh” as he slammed the first such clampdown since his govt took charge in Oct 2024. The Omar-led govt does not control police or security, whose reins are in the hands of the Centre-appointed lieutenant governor (LG) Manoj Sinha, an arrangement that took shape after the 2019 abrogation of J&K’s special status under Article 370.
Nasir Aslam Wani, Omar’s political adviser, said the CM had been outside J&K and returned to Srinagar on Sunday but was not allowed to proceed towards Naqshband Sahib, the resting place of 22 people killed during an uprising against Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh on July 13, 1931. The date is significant in Kashmir’s history.
According to Wani, Omar remained in his house after being stopped. Deputy CM Surinder Choudhary of NC was in Jammu but his Srinagar house was locked. Wani said he himself had been shut in since 3 am Sunday. “An elected government was placed under house detention in J&K by the very people who hailed the 2024 assembly elections as a triumph of democracy. The irony is not just strange, it is tragic,” NC spokesman Tanvir Sadiq told TOI.
Omar expressed anger, calling the curbs “blatantly undemocratic” with troops deployed as jailers and major bridges in Srinagar blocked. “I will never understand what the law-and-order govt is so afraid of,” Omar said in a swipe at authorities under LG Sinha.
Since early Sunday, authorities shut down major routes. Security was tightened at Gupkar Road , home to top politicians including Farooq, Omar, education minister Sakina Itoo and CPM MLA MY Tarigami. I too posted that she had been “put under house arrest since last (Saturday) night”. The NC head office was sealed with concertina wire. PDP office was shut, too. A popular Sunday flea market in the Lal Chowk area was not allowed. All roads leading to the graveyard at Naqshband Sahib were closed. Senior cops were at the site.
Amid the restrictions, Omar sought to counter the established narrative on the 1931 uprising by likening it to Jallianwala Bagh and claiming it was against the British. “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,” the CM posted.
PDP chief Mehbooba called for “acceptance” of the martyrs. “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,” Mehbooba said. Former PDP minister Naeem Akhtar, also locked in, posted that “it feels like we are in 1931”.
In Jammu, the BJP leader of opposition, Sunil Sharma, sought to contest projections of the 1931 episode as martyrdom. He had sparked bedlam in the assembly this March by calling the martyrs “traitors”. “Communal violence was given a false narrative of martyrdom. The recent remarks by Omar, equating Islamist rioters with freedom fighters, are an insult to the nation and its true freedom struggle,” Sharma said Sunday.
Deputy CM Choudhary hit back with a veiled jab at the BJP. “If they admire Nathuram Godse, who killed Mahatma Gandhi, what’s wrong in remembering the July 13 martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the rights of people?” Choudhary asked as NC functionaries in Jammu paid tributes.
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