J&K admin seals cemetery on Martyr's Day, life remains normal

July 13 used to be a holiday in the official calendar to commemorate the martyrdom of 22 Kashmiris, who were shot dead by soldiers of the last Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir in 1931 during a protest against the sentencing of Abdul Qadeer Khan, believed to be a resident of the Swat region, now in Pakistan.

Srinagar: Life was normal in Kashmir valley on Martyr's Day, which used to be observed on July 13 in the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state while the Martyr's graveyard in Srinagar's Khawaja Bazar Nowhatta area was closed for visitors. Until August 2019, when the Centre scrapped Jammu and Kashmir's special status, July 13 used to be a holiday in the official calendar to commemorate the martyrdom of 22 Kashmiris, who were shot dead by soldiers of the last Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir in 1931 during a protest against the sentencing of Abdul Qadeer Khan, believed to be a resident of the Swat region, now in Pakistan.

Following the reorganization of J&K after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, the UT administration canceled the holiday from the official calendar doing away with the traditional practice of observing the day at the government level and showering flowers on the graves of the politicians. On Wednesday, authorities locked up the Martyr's graveyard in the Nowhatta area of downtown Srinagar to prevent visitors throng the area.

Security force personnel were deployed along the roads leading to the martyrs' graveyard. The graveyard is located on the lawns of the shrine built in the memory of central Asian Sufi saint, Khwaja Sayed Bahauddin Naqashband Bukhari, the founder of the Sufi Naqshbandi order. A semi-armored vehicle and a police cab were deployed on the main square near the shrine.

However, there was no restriction on the public movement while the relatives of the 1931 martyrs were forced to offer prayers from the gate of the graveyard. Meanwhile, the Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) has alleged that their representatives were not allowed to visit the graveyard by the Jammu and Kashmir administration.

"PAGD stopped from paying tributes to the Martyrs of 13th July. The LG administration disallows Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, Mohd Yousuf Tarigami, Justice (Retd) Masood Hasnani, and Muzzafar Shah from visiting Martyr's graveyard at Naqshband Sahib Srinagar," the amalgam of local political parties said in a statement.