Kashmir Impulse Desk

Srinagar, July 13

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday accused the region’s administration of preventing elected representatives from paying tribute to the victims of the 1931 Kashmir killings after security forces blocked his party from reaching the Martyrs’ Graveyard in Srinagar.

Abdullah, leader of the ruling National Conference (NC), said he and senior party colleagues were unable to visit the Naqshband Sahab graveyard because of extensive security restrictions imposed across the city’s old quarters on the anniversary of the July 13, 1931 shootings.

“Those who stopped us from going today are here only for a short time. The martyrs will remain in our memory forever,” Abdullah told reporters at the party headquarters after National Conference leaders abandoned plans to visit the graveyard.

He said the party would return to offer prayers and floral tributes once access was restored.

Authorities deployed police and paramilitary personnel around the graveyard and sealed roads leading to the area, citing security concerns and the need to prevent public gatherings.

The anniversary marks the killing of 22 protesters outside Srinagar Central Jail during demonstrations against the Dogra monarchy. The day was observed as an official public holiday in the former state of Jammu and Kashmir until it was removed from the list of gazetted holidays after the region’s reorganisation in 2019.

Abdullah described those killed in 1931 as people who had fought against autocratic rule and said attempts to reinterpret the event through a religious prism distorted its historical significance.

“Their struggle was for democratic rights, not for religion,” he said.

The chief minister also criticised the administration’s handling of the anniversary, saying restrictions on elected representatives contradicted official assertions that normalcy had returned to Jammu and Kashmir.

“If everything is normal, there should be no reason to prevent people from peacefully visiting a graveyard,” he said.

Abdullah linked the restrictions to broader security measures imposed during the annual Amarnath pilgrimage, saying extraordinary traffic controls and movement restrictions reflected continuing security concerns in the region.

He also confirmed that the National Conference was awaiting permission from Delhi Police to hold a protest at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar later this month to press the federal government to restore Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood.

The Centre revoked the region’s special constitutional status in August 2019 and split the former state into two federally administered territories, promising that full statehood would be restored at a later stage.