No official observation of Kashmir martyrs’ day

For the first time since 1947, Kashmir martyrs’ day will not be observed at official level in Jammu and Kashmir.

It has been reliably learnt that no official event will take place in J&K on Monday to commemorate the occasion. Also, it is not yet clear if a government representative will visit the ‘Mazaare-Shohada’ in Srinagar’s Khawaja Bazaar area to pay obeisance to the martyrs of July 13, 1931 or not.

Last year, Khurshid Ahmad Ganai, one of the advisors to the then Governor, Satya Pal Malik, had visited the historic cemetery to offer floral tributes to the 1931 martyrs. He was accompanied by senior government and police officials including the then Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, Baseer Ahmad Khan, who is now serving as an advisor to the J&K Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu. They too had laid wreaths over the graves of the martyrs and, in order to follow the tradition, a contingent of J&K police had posted the bugle and presented the ceremonial guard of honour to the martyrs.

However in January this year, six months after the erstwhile state was split up into two Union Territories on August 5 last year, the government cancelled the gazetted holiday on July 13 in J&K, the decision which evoked widespread condemnation by local political parties.

Greatly disappointed at the government’s decision of withdrawing July 13 as a state holiday to mark the ‘martyrs’ day’, vast sections of J&K Muslims had termed it as an “onslaught” on their ethos.

On July 13, 1931, as many as 22 Kashmiris were killed in firing by the Maharaja’s army outside Srinagar’s central prison where an in-camera trial of famed Abdul Qadeer Khan, a non-local chef with a British traveller, was being held.

Khan had been charged with sedition and instigating people for violence after he made fiery speeches against the Maharaja’s “oppressive” rule at a Friday congregation and while pointing towards his Palace asked people to raze it “brick by brick.” Since the July 13 would be observed as ‘Martyrs’ Day’ on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) at official as well as unofficial levels. July 13 continues to be a public holiday in PoK where, reports suggest, the authorities are planning to observe the day with “extra zeal” this time in view of the J&K government decision of withdrawing the official holiday on July 13.

Meanwhile, various J&K mainstream political parties including National Conference (NC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have paid glowing tributes to the July 13 martyr, stating that their role in J&K’s freedom struggle can neither be undone nor forgotten. “The memory of the 13th July martyrs cannot be erased by changing the government calendar of holidays as they will live forever in the hearts and memories of every freedom loving Democrat,” the PDP said in a statement here.