Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah and his National Conference colleagues on Monday dodged police curbs, sprinted on foot and scaled a fence to pay tributes to July 13 martyrs, a day after all political leaders of Kashmir and cabinet ministers of the NC were not allowed to visit the Mazar-e-Shohada (1931 martyrs’ graveyard) in Srinagar’s Old City.
“Paid my respects at the graves of the martyrs of July 13, 1931. The unelected government tried to block my way, forcing me to walk from Nowhatta Chowk. They blocked the gate to the Naqshband Sahib shrine, forcing me to scale a wall. They tried to physically grapple me but I was not going to be stopped today,” Omar posted on X.
Besides Omar and his cabinet ministers, NC president Farooq Abdullah also offered prayers at the cemetery.
Omar criticised lieutenant governor Manoj Singh and the police for trying to stop him and his entourage from entering the martyrs’ graveyard. “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 (prayers)’ here. We were kept in house arrest (on Sunday). When gates opened, I expressed to the control room my desire to offer ‘fateha’. Within minutes, bunkers were put up and they were not removed late into the night,” Abdullah told reporters after paying tributes at the graveyard.
