BJP skips martyrs’ day, stresses on its communal origin

There is an alternative view among some that those killed on the fateful day were in fact rioters.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has pressed Home Minister Rajnath Singh to initiate a dialogue with different stakeholders as that would act as a “healing touch” to the ongoing situation in the valley which, insiders said, she does not believe to be a “pure law and order problem”.

The government’s spokesperson said that CM Mehbooba Mufti met Singh to discuss the overall security situation in Kashmir, especially in the aftermath of the Amarnath Yatra attack.

Her meeting with Singh on Saturday followed a party meeting with her angry legislators, who voiced their concern over the continued hard policy and anti-militancy operations in Kashmir without any corresponding dialogue, sources told this newspaper.

After her meeting with Rajnath Singh, she told the reporters that she needs the support of the entire political spectrum in New Delhi to bring Kashmir out of the present mess.

She cited external forces like Pakistan and China and said that they were keen to destabilise Kashmir and unleash communal passion by attacks such as the one on Amarnath Yatra. For the third year in a row, the BJP leaders in Jammu and Kashmir abstained from an official function organised on Thursday, 13 July to pay tributes to the martyrs of 1931, who had died in a shoot-out during Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh’s reign. Thirteenth July is an official holiday in the state.

The National Conference and the Congress condemned the BJP, accusing it of insulting the martyrs of Jammu and Kashmir. NC patron and former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said the BJP was trying to insult the martyrs of Jammu and Kashmir for the sake of its “communal politics”. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti skirted questions raised by the media, asking her to explain the non-participation of her ally, Bharatiya Janata Party in the official function.

The BJP defended itself in a statement saying 13 July 1931 was the most controversial day in the history of J&K as it was on this day that com- munal politics took roots in Kashmir. BJP spokesperson Varinder Gupta said that this day hurts the sentiment of the majority of people and has divided Kashmiri society on communal lines.

There is an alternative view among some that those killed on the fateful day were in fact “rioters”. On 13 July, the hearing on the arrest of one Abdul Qadir, a rabble rouser from Peshawar who also worked for the British as an undercover agent to destabilise the situation in the valley, was to take place in the jail premises. He had been arrested for fanning communal tension. But a mob stormed the jail, pelted stones on police officers and tried to burn down the premises. They also tried to liberate prisoners who were being taken out of the jail. When the police tried to disperse the mob they attacked a place called Mahraj Ganj and raided and looted shops belonging to the Hindus. The same kind of loot followed in Safakadal, Ganji, Khud and Nawakadal, with Hindu merchants losing lakhs of rupees worth of merchandise. It was these rioters who had been killed by the police to restore law and order.

While the separatist leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq were not allowed to come to the martyrs’ graveyard in Srinagar to pay their tributes, independent MLA Engineer Abdul Rasheed took out a “plebiscite march” from the downtown locality of Khanayar up to martyrs graveyard at Khawaja Bazar, Srinagar. He said the PDP, National Conference and the Congress have no right to visit this graveyard.

He lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party for insulting the sacrifices of the Kashmiris, Rasheed said that Mehbooba Mufti should resign if she has any dignity left.

BJP spokesperson Varinder Gupta said that this day has divided the Kashmiri society on communal lines.

An Indian student was found dead while another was found injured in a flat in Bangladesh’s Chittagong city. The deceased was identified as Ateef Sheikh, 25, a final year MBBS student of the University of Science and Technology Chittagong (USTC), the Daily Star quoted Alamgir Hossain, officer-in-charge of the Akbar Shah Police Station, as saying.

Another Indian student, identified as Winson Singh, 23, was also found hanging from a ceiling fan at the same flat in Akbar Shah locality, the police said. Both men hailed from India’s northeastern state Manipur.

The incident took place at around 11 pm on Friday night and according to local media reports Singh allegedly stabbed Sheikh to death during an altercation before trying to hang himself.

Singh was, however, rescued by other flatmates and both of them were taken to Chittagong Medical College Hospital in wee hours of Saturday, Bdnews24.com reported.

Sheikh was declared brought dead and had 15 injury marks on his body. “It appears that Ateef and one of his roommates, Winson, were drunk when they brawled... During the fisticuffs, Ateef’s throat was hit with something sharp that caused severe bleeding,” said Md Jashimuddin, sub-inspector at Akbar Shah police station.

Another student Neeraj Guru, who shared the same flat with Sheikh and Singh, said that both men were drinking alcohol in their rooms and soon he heard noises from their room and tried to open the door which was locked from inside.

After he managed to open the door, Guru found Sheikh in a pool of blood and Singh hanging from a fan.

Then their neighbours helped Guru bring the two men to the hospital, said a police official. No one has been arrested in the case yet and an investigation was on, the police said.