Srinagar’s “martyrs’ graveyard” was on Tuesday sealed to prevent pro-India politicians from paying tributes to the victims of the first popular uprising against the despotic Dogra rule.
For decades since 1931, July 13 has been observed as “Martyrs’ Day” in Jammu and Kashmir in memory of the men who were killed by Dogra forces that year, with politicians from across the separatist-pro-India divide treating the victims as their own.
But there was no state holiday last year on July 13 for the first time in decades after the government struck it down from the list of official holidays.
Politicians too were not allowed to visit the graveyard to pay tributes but what had looked like a one-off incident last year seemed more of a norm this time round.
The restrictions around the graveyard last year had coincided with a pandemic-related lockdown, prompting some officials to claim in private that Covid was the reason. There was no Covid-related lockdown in the Valley on Tuesday but the roads leading to the graveyard were sealed to prevent visitors from thronging the place.
Officially, no restrictions were announced and no reasons were given, neither last year nor on Tuesday, as part of a new normal in Kashmir where the government offers no explanation for such action. All an officer in Srinagar had to say to this newspaper after requesting anonymity was that the “order has come from above”.
Security forces were deployed in large numbers outside the Naqshband Sahib shrine in Srinagar, where the graveyard is located.
The forces had erected barricades to prevent people from converging at the shrine.
Two main pro-India parties — the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party — said they had applied to the Srinagar district magistrate for permission to visit the graveyard but were not allowed. The parties, however, joined others in paying tributes elsewhere. Parts of Kashmir observed a shutdown to mourn the losses of the “martyrs”.
The NC held a programme headed by party president Farooq Abdullah at its main office. In a joint statement, Farooq and son Omar Abdullah described the 1931 episode as “a landmark in the history of J&K”.
“Their sacrifices resulted in the transformation of the state from a feudalistic to a democratic one. The brave men belonged to a generation of wisdom and vision. They saw in darkness and despair a vision for the forthcoming generations; they envisioned a society free from bondage, discrimination and oppression,” the statement said.
Farooq’s father Sheikh Abdullah, the founder of the NC and the first prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir after its accession to India, had emerged as a mass leader from the uprising.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said the party was denied permission and the gates leading to the shrine were locked.
“Attempts to distort and rewrite Kashmir’s history are being made only to create a sense of defeat and helplessness amongst Kashmiris. Nevertheless, as we pay homage to the heroes of 13th July, 1931, our resolve to strive for restoration of J&K’s dignity remains firm,” she tweeted.
CPM veteran Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami had said on Monday that the “supreme sacrifices of the July 13 martyrs” had ultimately led the way for a “Naya (new) Kashmir” during which the erstwhile state made “significant strides including landmark agrarian reforms, free education to all, political and economic rights to women, (and the) uplift of weaker sections of the population, including peasants and tenants (of the land, who) got empowered”.
“With a stroke of the pen, J&K’s special status under Article 370 was abrogated and the erstwhile state was downgraded and bifurcated into two Union Territories. The new narrative of the BJP government is to make a ‘Naya Kashmir’ where you are not even allowed to mourn and visit the graves of the July 13 martyrs to pay homage to them. In the last two years, silence of the people, achieved by force, is being projected as acceptance of the BJP government’s unconstitutional and arbitrary decisions,” he said in a statement.
The BJP-led Centre has been accused of launching an assault on Kashmir’s pre-Partition symbols of resistance against “Hindu” Dogra autocrats, literally disowning the “Muslim martyrs” who laid down their lives fighting Dogra rule.