Omar Abdullah Scales Wall Amid House Arrest To Reach Martyrs’ Graveyard

SRINAGAR: On Monday, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah encountered physical resistance from police as he attempted to pay respects at the graves of the 1931 martyrs at Srinagar’s Naqshband Sahib shrine. Undeterred, Abdullah scaled a wall to access the site after authorities blocked his entry, escalating tensions between the elected government and the Centre-appointed administration.

Abdullah, accompanied by several cabinet members, faced what he described as “physical grappling” from law enforcement. “I was doing nothing unlawful,” he stated, challenging the police to clarify the legal basis for their actions. The incident followed a day of heightened restrictions, with the shrine sealed off and prominent politicians, including Abdullah, his father and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, reportedly placed under house arrest on Sunday. These measures intensified the ongoing friction between the regional government and the lieutenant governor’s administration.

The chief minister shared a video on social media showing him climbing the shrine’s wall to offer prayers, asserting, “We succeeded in offering prayers.” He emphasized that the significance of the martyrs’ graves extends beyond the official Martyrs’ Day on July 13, which commemorates the 22 civilians killed in 1931 during protests against Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh. Abdullah also alleged that police attempted to tear the National Conference flag and mishandled party workers during the confrontation.

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The 1931 uprising, a pivotal moment in Kashmir’s history, has become a contentious issue since the revocation of Article 370 in 2019. The event, marked annually as Martyrs’ Day, was once a public holiday but was removed from the official calendar post-2019. Since then, security forces, under the control of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, have restricted access to the Mazar-e-Shuhada graveyard, where the martyrs are buried. Abdullah invoked the late BJP leader Arun Jaitley to highlight the strained dynamics between the elected government and the Centre’s administration.