Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], July 13 : Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah acknowledged Martyrs Day on Sunday, amid heavy police deployment outside 40 Gupkar Road, Srinagar, the official residence of the J&K CM.
The Chief Minister on X shared pictures of police outside his residence, with armoured vehicles parked and movement restricted, as the regional parties, including the National Conference (NC), were denied permission to visit the martyrs' graveyard in Srinagar.
https://x.com/OmarAbdullah/status/1944391230378377617
"To borrow from the late Arun Jaitley Sb - Democracy in J&K is a tyranny of the unelected. To put it in terms you will all understand today the unelected nominees of New Delhi locked up the elected representatives of the people of J-K," CM Abdullah wrote in a post on X.
"The unelected government locked up the elected government," his post added.
The J-K CM has also compared Kashmir's Martyrs Day to Punjab's Jallianwalah Bagh massacre, saying, "13th July massacre is our Jallianwala Bagh. 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."
Earlier on Sunday, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) chief spokesperson and Zadibal MLA Tanvir Sadiq has also alleged that several party leaders had been confined to their homes to stop them from paying tribute to the martyrs.
"Since last night, I like many of my colleagues, including the party leadership at Gupkar, the Advisor to the Chief Minister, and a majority of sitting MLAs have been locked inside my home. This is not just unfortunate; it is a deliberate attempt to suppress remembrance and deny us the right to honour the martyrs of July 13. Such actions are not only unnecessary they are unjustified, deeply insensitive, and reveal a troubling disregard for history," Sadiq posted on X.
Amid the controversy of not being allowed to visit the martyrs graveyard, People's Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti said that the "dil ki doori (distance of hearts)" between Kashmir and the rest of India would end when the Centre accepts Kashmir's heroes as its own, just as Kashmiris have embraced national figures.
"The day you accept our heroes as your own just as Kashmiris have embraced yours, from Mahatma Gandhi to Bhagat Sing, that day, as Prime Minister Modi once said, the 'dil ki doori' (distance of hearts) will truly end," the PDP chief wrote on X.
"When you lay siege to the Martyrs' Graveyard, lock people in their homes to prevent them from visiting Mazar-e-Shuhada, it speaks volumes. July 13th commemorates our martyrs, those who rose against tyranny, much like countless others across the country. They will always be our heroes," she added.
Martyrs' Day in Kashmir was earlier an official holiday in the state; it was delisted after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.