Martyrs day: Kashmir leaders say they are under house arrest, Omar calls it 'undemocratic move'

Srinagar: Prominent political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday claimed they have been placed under house arrest to prevent them from paying homage to the 22 persons killed by the Dogra army on this day in 1931, with Chief Minister Omar Abdullah terming the move as "blatantly undemocratic".

There was no official confirmation to the house arrest claims made by the leaders.

Paying tributes to the 22 people killed, Abdullah likened the July 13, 1931 incident to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

"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," the chief minister said on X.

In 1919, hundreds of people protesting peacefully against the Rowlatt Acts, which granted the colonial administration repressive powers, were gunned down by British forces without any provocation at the Jallianwala Bagh in Punjab's Amritsar.

Abdullah said, "We may be denied the opportunity to visit their graves today but we will not forget their sacrifices".

In an earlier post, Abdullah criticised the house detention of the leaders as a "blatantly undemocratic move".

"In a blatantly undemocratic move homes have been locked from the outside, police & central forces deployed as jailers & major bridges in Srinagar blocked. All to stop people from visiting a historically important grave yard containing the graves of people who laid down their lives to give Kashmiris a voice & to empower them. I will never understand what the Law & Order government is so afraid of," he said.

Opposition PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said the mistrust between Delhi and Kashmiris will truly end only when India accepted Kashmiri "martyrs" as their own.

"The day you accept our heroes as your own just as Kashmiris have embraced yours, from Mahatma Gandhi to Bhagat Singh that day, as Prime Minister Modi once said, the "dil ki doori" (distance of hearts) will truly end," she said in a post on X.

The former chief minister posted pictures of a locked gate to her residence.

"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 said.

The former chief minister claimed several leaders of her party who managed to sneak out of their homes have been detained at various police stations.

"Continuing with its regressive policies many of our party leaders like Khurshid Allam, Zohaib Mir, Hamid Kohsheen, Arif Liagroo, Sara Nayeema, Tabassum, Basharat Naseem and others who managed to sneak out of their homes have been detained in police stations. They were on their way to Mazar e shuda. It seems we are getting back into the oppressive times that our 13 July Martyrs fought against," she claimed.

Peoples Conference president Sajad Gani Lone also claimed that he has been stopped from leaving his residence.

"Not allowed to move out of home. Detained. I don't know why the union government is so keen to redefine what is sacred for the people of Kashmir.The sacrifices rendered on July 13 are sacred for all of us," he said.

Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who has been under house arrest since Friday, said Kashmir bears witness to the painful saga of the sacrifices made by its sons and daughters.

"The Martyrs of July 13, 1931 led this quest by standing up to the tyranny of the rulers of the day, laying down their lives. Today, Kashmir remembers and honours them. We may be put in jails or under house arrests and threatened with dire consequences, and the martyrs' graveyards may be sealed and blocked, but they live in our hearts and in our memory and will continue to, generation after generation," he posted on X.

The leaders claimed they were placed under house arrest to prevent them from visiting the Naqshband Sahib Martyrs graveyard near Nowhatta in the old city.

The Srinagar district magistrate on Saturday rejected the ruling National Conference's plea seeking permission to pay homage to the 22 people.

The party, in an application sent to the district magistrate, stated that NC president Farooq Abdullah and other senior functionaries intend to visit the graveyard of "martyrs" at Naqshband Sahib near Nowhatta on Sunday.

"The District Administration Srinagar has denied permission to all applicants intending to proceed towards Khawaja Bazar, Nowhatta on 13th July 2025 (Sunday)," Srinagar Police said in a public advisory posted on its handle on X on Saturday.

July 13 used to be a public holiday in Jammu and Kashmir before the reorganisation of the erstwhile state into two Union territories in August 2019. However, the administration dropped the day from the list of gazetted holidays in 2020.

On the day, mainstream political leaders used to visit the "martyrs' graveyard" to pay homage to the Kashmiris who fell to the bullets of the Dogra army while protesting against the rule of the Maharaja.