Mirwaiz Detained as J&K Govt and Parties Prepare for Martyrs’ Day Amid LG Nod Uncertainty
Srinagar: Days ahead of Jammu and Kashmir’s Martyr’s Day, moderate Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was stopped from delivering his weekly sermon at Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid and put under house arrest by authorities on Friday (July 11).
In a post on X, Mirwaiz, who is also the chief cleric of Kashmir, attributed his detention to the alleged fears of “mention of the martyrs of 13th July 1931” in his sermon.
“The sacrifice of these martyrs and all the martyrs since, is etched in the collective memory of Kashmir and cannot not be undone by restrictions and bans. No living nation can forget the supreme sacrifice of life of its martyrs against tyranny and injustice,” he said.
Mirwaiz appealed to the authorities to lift the restrictions and allow people to pay homage to the martyrs. “Inshallah if allowed as per our tradition, we will visit the martyrs graveyard on July 13th after Zuhr prayers and pay homage to the revered martyrs,” the post said.
The ruling National Conference (NC) and the lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha’s administration’s disagreements over the former’s plans to commemorate July 13 as Martyr’s Day seem to have reached boiling point.
The upcoming Martyr’s Day, which was scrapped as a public holiday in January 2020 after Article 370 was read down in August 2019, is the first after chief minister Omar Abdullah was sworn into office in October 2024.
The NC, People’s Democratic Party (PDP), People’s Conference (PC) and J&K Apni Party have demanded restoration of July 13 as a public holiday to honour the 22 Kashmiris who were shot dead in Srinagar in 1931 by the Dogra army while protesting against the rule of Maharaja Hari Singh.
In a letter, senior NC leader Ali Mohammad Sagar wrote to the deputy commissioner of Srinagar saying that party president Farooq Abdullah will be accompanied by “senior [party] functionaries” to the Mazaar-e-Shuhda or Martyrs’ Graveyard in Srinagar on Sunday at 8 am “to pay floral tributes to the martyrs”.
“Necessary security arrangements at Mazer-e-Shuhda be made. Further it is requested to kindly confirm the proposed timing or allot the timing so that there is no confusion whatsoever in this regard and Party (sic) will follow the timing as allotted (sic),” Sagar said in the letter.
As lieutenant governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha controls the top echelons of bureaucracy and also holds the charge of the police department which, going by past instances, is unlikely to allow the commemorations this year.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has opposed the July 13 commemoration with senior party face, and leader of opposition in J&K assembly, Sunil Sharma triggering outrage across Kashmir last year after calling those killed by the Dogra army in 1931 as “traitors”.
When J&K was a state, the mainstream political parties of Kashmir used to make a beeline at the Mazhar-e-Shuhada in downtown Srinagar to pay tributes to the 22 victims of the Dogra army whose death has shaped the contours of both the mainstream and separatist politics over the years.
However, after J&K as a Union Territory got its first elected government last year, the opposition PDP, PC and others have accused the ruling party of betraying its own political manifesto by allegedly failing to restore July 13 as a public holiday.
In a post on July 13 last year, while reacting to his detention and that of Mehbooba and others after they were prevented from visiting the Mazhar-e-Shuhada by the LG administration, Abdullah wrote on X: “This is the last year they will be able to do this. From next year, we will mark 13th July with the solemnity and respect this day deserves.”
A local news gatherer reported on Thursday that the NC has written to Sinha to reinstate July 13 and December 5, the birth anniversary of party founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, as public holidays.
Both the dates were dropped from the list of public holidays issued last year by J&K’s General Administration Department which is under LG Sinha’s control.
Taking a dig at the ruling party, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday questioned the Abdullah government on its proposal, saying it “would have carried weight if the Speaker had supported PDP’s resolution for the same in the assembly”.
During the budget session of the J&K assembly earlier this year, PDP leader Waheed Para brought a resolution seeking reinstatement of July 13 as a public holiday. However, speaker Abdul Rahim Rather, a senior NC leader and former finance minister of J&K, dismissed the resolution citing rules.
Rule 368 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the J&K Assembly bars the members from publicising notices for bills, resolutions or questions until they have been admitted by the speaker and circulated among the members.
“The Speaker’s outright rejection of the resolution was unexpected and disappointing. Today’s exercise looks more like a (sic) lip service than any serious effort,” Mehboob said in a post on X.
In a statement on Thursday evening, Mehbooba said that the decision “has exposed NC’s double-speak on Kashmir’s history”, “Their silence proves complicity, not commitment. When the moment came to defend a shared legacy, they chose silence”.
The party said that it will commemorate July 13 by visiting the Mazhar-e-Shuhada in Srinagar on Sunday.
Sajad Lone’s PC and Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari have also said that their leaders would visit the Mazhar-e-Shuhada with the latter also calling on the Abdullah government to declare July 13 as a public holiday and commemorate the day across the Union territory.
“It is because of their sacrifices that we are here today. But the (Abdullah) government has not been able to deliver even one per cent of its manifesto in eight months in power,” Bukhari said.
“Our leaders will also visit the Martyrs’ Graveyard to offer prayers on July 13,” a PC spokesperson said.
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