Srinagar: Undeterred by the “physical grappling” he faced at the hands of the police personnel, a defiant Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday scaled the wall of the Naqshband Sahib shrine to reach the ‘Martyrs’ graveyard’ to pay tributes to 22 people killed by the Dogra army in 1931.
These dramatic scenes unfolded in Srinagar downtown on Monday as National Conference leaders made their way to the ‘Martyrs’ graveyard’, a day after Abdullah and several leaders of the National Conference and opposition parties were allegedly put under house-arrest to prevent them from going to the graveyard to mark Martyrs’ Day on July 13.
National Conference president Farooq Abdullah took an autorickshaw from the Khanyar crossing to the martyrs’ memorial, while Education Minister Sakina Itoo surprised everyone by riding pillion on a scooty to the memorial.
Police had bolted the gates of the shrine premises (also housing the martyrs’ graveyard) in the hope of stopping the chief minister and his entourage from entering the premises. Security forces had also sealed the roads leading to the graveyard from both Khanyar and Nowhatta sides in downtown Srinagar once they got to know that Omar Abdullah and other National Conference leaders were heading towards it.
As soon as Omar Abdullah’s cavalcade reached Khanyar in the old city, he got off his vehicle and walked more than a kilometre to reach the graveyard, only to find the gates locked by the authorities. The chief minister is a ‘Z’ Plus protectee, and his personal security detail kept up, step for step, through the one-kilometre walk.
The chief minister then climbed over the wall and iron railings atop it to enter the graveyard premises to offer ‘fateha’. His security men and several other National Conference leaders also did so before the gate was finally thrown open.
The 87-year-old National Conference president and former union minister Farooq Abdullah, who has been known for being unorthodox in his longs political career, took an autorickshaw to reach the martyrs memorial after police stopped his vehicle at Khanyar Chowk.
Ittoo, the only woman minister in the Omar Abdullah cabinet, had her own surprise for her party leaders and mediapersons as she reached the martyrs memorial riding pillion on a scooty. The minister reportedly asked a passerby for a lift after police stopped her car at Khanyar Chowk.
That was not the end of it.
Police officials did not give up and tried to physically stop the chief minister while he was heading towards the specific graves but Abdullah managed to brush past their flailing hands.
Lashing out at Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and the police for trying to stop him and his entourage from entering the martyrs’ graveyard, Omar Abdullah told reporters, “It is sad that on the instructions of the people who claim that their responsibility is the security and law and order, we were not allowed to offer ‘fateha’ here. We were kept in house arrest (on Sunday).”
“See their brazenness, they tried to stop us today as well. They also tried to manhandle us. Police sometimes forget the law. Why was I stopped today, when the restriction was for yesterday?” added the furious chief minister.
For all purposes, this is a free country, he went on to say. “But they think of us as their slaves. We are not. We are servants, but of the people. I don’t understand why they destroy the law while in uniform,” he said.
He said he and his party leaders foiled the police’s attempts to catch them.
“They tried to catch us, they tried to tear apart our flag but all of it went in vain. We came here and offered ‘fateha’. They think the martyrs’ graves are here only on July 13, but they are here all year round.
“How long could the LG administration stop us from paying tributes to martyrs? If not July 13, it could be July 12 or 14 of December, January or February,” he added.
“We will come here whenever we feel like,” Omar Abdullah asserted.
Videos from the spot showed uniformed men in a scuffle with Omar Abdullah and his team.
Posting the video on X, he said, “This is the physical grappling I was subjected to but I am made of sterner stuff & was not to be stopped. I was doing nothing unlawful or illegal. In fact these ‘protectors of the law’ need to explain under what law they were trying to stop us from offering Fatiha.”
In another post, he said “the unelected government tried to block my way forcing me to walk from Nawhatta chowk”.
“They blocked the gate to Naqshband Sb shrine forcing me to scale a wall. They tried to physically grapple me but I was not going to be stopped today,” he said.
July 13 is commemorated as ‘Martyrs Day’ in Jammu and Kashmir as a tribute to 22 people killed by the Dogra army outside Srinagar’s central jail in 1931. The LG administration had dropped the day from the list of gazetted holidays in 2020. (With inputs from PTI)
