Is scaling a wall a symbol of patriotism
P L KHUSHU
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah climbed over the main gate and fencing at Naqashband Sahib Shrine to reach Mazar-e-Shuda, in Srinagar on 14th July 2025. Visuals shared in this regard as per media reports show him grappling with the authorities as he visited the Naqashbandh Sahib shrine at Khawaja Bazar to offer fatiha (prayer) at the martyrs’ graves. The L-G had barred the government and regional parties from paying tributes at the site. The preparations assumed significance because J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha removed the ‘Martyrs Day’ from the official holiday calendar of the government after the Centre ended J&K’s special constitutional status in 2019. Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir imposed a partial lockdown in Srinagar on Sunday, preventing political leaders and the public from assembling at the Martyrs’ Graveyard on the anniversary of the 1931 killings that are commemorated as Martyrs’ Day in the region. The Jammu and Kashmir Police, along with Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), sealed off access to Khawaja Bazar, home to the Mazaar-e-Shuhada, where 22 Kashmiris were buried after being gunned down by Maharaja Hari Singh’s forces in 1931. According to reports, the area was heavily barricaded, with checkpoints and restrictions in place throughout Srinagar to thwart any attempts at gathering. As is learnt, this was done by him in protest against the moratorium put by the Lieutenant Governor a day before which had put the entire Kashmiri mainstream leadership, including its legislators, under house arrest to prevent them going to the Mazar-e-Shuda to mark the anniversary of the erstwhile celebrated July 13 “martyrdom”. Well right or wrong, the comments of various observers may vary about such an action of the chief minister.
Without any prejudice to the orders of the Lieutenant Governor in this regard, who is the best judge of the political ground situation in this regard, probably there should have been no such moratorium, as paying tributes to the dead should not have normally been stopped. Why to stop people from paying homage’s to the dead of the past, whatever being the circumstances of their death.
Anyway when such an executive order was in force, why should the chief minister violate its punctuation and essence for personal ego or for some other reason which can be a political one only? Does it suit his position and official status and responsibilities? Such a step by the chief minister does not bring in anything potential to be concluded as a positive gain in the policies of his political party the national conference towards the annulment of the celebrating of the martyrs day viz, 13th July as was being done in the past, before the 5th of August 2019.
Does it show more patriotism of the present chief minister towards Kashmir, when a big section of the people of Kashmir the Kashmiri Pandits are living in forced exile much away from their home lands in Kashmir, with heavy scars of brutal acts of genocide inflicted on them in 1989-90, with their forced exit from Kashmir under a fundamentalists Jehadi manifesto, which none from the dynastic political leaders have condemned so for, not to speak of expressing anguish and sorrow about such a situation for the aboriginal citizen’s of Kashmir the KP’s.
The January month of each year after the 19th January-1990, haunts each and every Kashmiri Pandit, living in forced exile across the country of the horrors and woes of this month, when they were forced to flee from Kashmir due to the terror dragon of the Islamist fundamentalists on this day. Screaming from loud speakers from mosques and crowded streets it was orchestrated then by the local majority population, with a message for KP’s living in Kashmir, which said, Ralive, Tsaliv , Neti- Galiv. (It meant that either convert to Islam or leave Kashmir and in the alternative face death). Even after about 35 years, Kashmiri Pandits shiver remembering the night which forced them into exodus and a life of exile within their own country. Jehadi cum communal speeches from mosques were put on loud speakers meant for “Azan & Nimaz”, which would say (“Yeti- Bani Pakistan, Bhatov Bhegeer the Bhatenen-San”), meaning there in that the Kashmir will become a Pakistan without male Kashmiri Pandits, but including women folk of Kashmiri Pandits.
Who is the worst martyr under the circumstances, the buried souls at ” Mazar-e-Shuda” or the living souls of Kashmir who are dead for Kashmir which is their home land while living as devastated refugees in their own country but away from their original homes and hearths. The buried souls at “Mazar-e-Shuda”, need to be honored and respected as every dead person needs to be respected after death. But the forcibly displaced Kashmiri Pandits of Kashmir are mortally dead for Kashmir while being half alive, living far away from their homes and hearths in Kashmir. What a catastrophe.
Who will scale the terror walls for them? It is a big question. Abdullah’s, Mufti’s and the like have never bothered about their plights, when there is no symbolic proof when these chronic dynastic based political party’s of Kashmir have ever uttered at least a ceremonial regret or sorrow about the displaced KP’s.
While many mainstream parties in the Valley regard the 1931 martyrs as symbols of resistance and democratic aspiration, for their inherent political interests , mostly the Hindus and in particular the Kashmiri Pandits in J & K refuse to accept this legacy as martyrdom and see it as a black day of a sad communal color. Kashmiri Pandits in particular refuse to accept it as a day of martyrdom, as on this day itself KP’s met a genocide of an ugly order, when they were killed and their properties looted for no fault of theirs.
This ‘Mazaar-e-Shuhada’ syndrome has been a potent politically exploited symbol for Kashmir based political parties even though ordinary Kashmiri has no love lost for them as a new class of ‘martyrs'(militants) has come up after 1990, coupled with the living martyrs the KPs’ who are the forcibly displaced lot from Kashmir. The Chief Minister’s visit seems more politically calculated, yet a barren visit , without any tangible applause from the majority sections of the people of Kashmir.
What is said about the Martyrs Day of Kashmir’s, July 13th:-
13th day of July, 1931, was actually a well thought of communal event, which occurred in Srinagar, Kashmir, when lot of people were murdered and put to a worst type of communal fury and wrath. When the people involved in such riots, who are called as martyrs as per official language, were asked and admonished by the police not to resort to rioting, arson, murder and looting and such rioters upon refusing to maintain order and peace, some of them had to face severe police action , when the police acted firmly upon them, to check their attempts of loot, arson and murder. In this process some of these rioters got killed as well, which normally occurs when such carnages are taken recourse to by any unruly mob. The dead rioters were hailed as martyrs by their co-conspirators and supporters. Later, in the independent India these rioters were commemorated and called as martyrs.
In 1931, Maharaja Hari Singh was the sovereign ruler of the Jammu and Kashmir, which included Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, Muzaffarabad-Mirpur, Aksai Chin and Saksham Valley. The British wanted him to lease them the Gilgit agency. The Maharaja was reluctant. He was a rare Hindu king who ruled over his predominantly Muslim subjects. It was thus conspired against the Maharaja that some tightness should be imposed upon him by creating unrest in his governance and disturb the peace of his government.
One professional trouble shooter from Peshawar, namely Abdul Qadir, was brought into Srinagar by the British intelligence in the garb of a cook for the local British resident.
A public meeting was organized at the Shah-e-Hamdaan, Khanqah Mohalla. There, Abdul Qadir, delivered a fiery speech. He quoted from the holy Quran to incite the Muslims against the Maharaja. Spewing communal venom and inflaming passion, he asserted that the book forbade Muslims to subject themselves to an infidel Hindu ruler. He also incited them to cow slaughter, which was forbidden under the law. Qadir was ordered to be arrested for sedition. His arrest was resisted. Later, his trial too was sought to be disrupted repeatedly. It was then decided to hold his trial in the jail premises itself.
GS Raghavan, a veteran journalist of that time describes the instances of July 13, 1931, in his book The Warning from Kashmir:
“The hearing in jail fell on 13th July. On that day, a mob stormed the jail and demanded admittance along with the Sessions Judge. When the Judge had passed the gates, the crowd also attempted to get in. The other gates had been forced and the inner gates were attacked. At the suggestion of the Judge, two Muslim lawyers, representing the accused, asked the visitors to go out of the Jail precincts. Finding that there was no possibility of ingress, the crowd went out and started stoning officials and set fire to the police lines. The police force was then called in. All efforts to pacify the unruly mob proved futile. While there was commotion outside the jail there was also disturbance inside, prisoners tried to force open the iron gates. About this time, certain prisoners were being taken from the court to the jail. The crowd stoned the policemen and the prisoners were liberated. The prospect was by no means satisfactory. The District Magistrate’s order was defied, who had been summoned to the spot by the time, and had declared the crowd to be an “unlawful assembly” and ordered its dispersal. The order was defied and finding that the mob could neither be pacified nor dispersed, the District Magistrate directed fire to be opened. The crowd fell off but later it re-assembled and resumed stoning. It had to be dispersed with a Lathi charge. A section of people from the crowd, however moved towards the Hari Parbat Fort, when the police had to pursue it and disperse it again. A section of these persons proceeded towards Maharaj Ganj which is a business locality and loot of sorts followed over an extensive area of Maharaj Ganj . From Bhori Kadal to Alikadal a long stretch, Hindu shops were raided. Other localities in and around maharaj ganj to Nawakadal including bohri kadal also became the focus poits of loot and arson. The Hindu shopkeepers were molested and thus pandemonium prevailed all over”. “The Hindu merchants lost goods worth lakhs of rupees. “The most extraordinary portion of the story was that almost simultaneously with the happenings at Srinagar, there was an uprising at a place named Vicharnag, some 5 or 6 miles away from this spot. It is stated that untold atrocities were committed there; men owning lakhs were reduced to indigence and women were subjected to the worst possible and the most indecent assaults. A military force was dispatched to the place, but by that time the havoc had been completed. Elsewhere too, the Hindus were the victims of this carnage. Some lost their lives and many suffered physical injuries.
Much more is there to write about this event of carnage, but due to the limitation of space enough of it is retained back to be mentioned in further issues.
Myself though not born at that point of time, am well reminded of this sad episode as my late father would often refer to the death of a Kashmiri pundit neighbor friend of his, namely Sh. Jagar Nath, living on the other side of our house, in the vicinity of Khankahi Mohalla, (where from the conspiracy for this carnage was cooked up), who was killed by the rioters after an assault on our locality, among other localities of Srinagar city. My father’s sister viz, my ‘Buwah’ ( Poof), who was unmarried then, was hid in a big earthen pot of a human size (mache-manz), in which the domestic grains and cereals were normally stored, to save her from the assault of the rioters. So was the case with other residents and neighbors as well. Thus 13th July in Kashmir, should be observed by all of us as KP’s, as a carnage day, as it was an organized communal carnage against KP’s and not a martyrs event as was being celebrated earlier.
How many walls will the present leadership of these dynastic heritage political parties scale to undo it all as a communal event basically where in the KP’s were the worst targets. Above all who will scale the wall for the forcibly displaced KP’s amongst the ruling clan to attend to their bleeding wounds of genocide, loot, arson and the like in 1989-90 and how many such walls will be scaled as their bleeding wounds are innumerable due to the Islamic terrorism in Kashmir on a mass scale ever since 1989-90.
The Kashmiri Pandit’s will aspire that no statehood should be given back to J & K, unless the KP’s are not rehabilitated back in Kashmir with dignity and honor. It is their right.
(The author is a chartered consultant civil engineer, passionately attached and devoted to his mother land – Jammu & Kashmir)