ibn sultan
Srinagar:Chaotic scenes played out near the Martyrs’ Graveyard in Srinagar this morning as Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his supporters reached the memorial to pay tributes and police personnel tried to stop them.
Sharing a video on X, Mr Abdullah said, “This is the physical grappling I was subjected to but I am made of sterner stuff and 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,” he said.
Mr Abdullah visited the memorial to pay tributes to Kashmiri protesters shot dead by Maharaja Hari Singh’s Dogra forces on July 13, 1931. The Chief Minister and top Jammu and Kashmir leaders were barred from visiting the Martyrs’ Graveyard, or Mazar-e-Shuhada, yesterday.
“We were not allowed to read the Fatiha here yesterday. People were kept confined to their homes. When the gates were opened and I informed the control room that I wanted to come here, a bunker was set up in front of my gate and it was not removed till late at night. Today I did not tell them at all. Without telling them, I sat into the car (and drove here),” he told the media after offering his tribute at the memorial.
“Look at their shamelessness. Even today, they tried to stop us. We parked the car at Nowhatta Chowk. They put a bunker in front of us and tried to manhandle us. These policemen in uniform sometimes forget the law. I want to ask them, under which law did they try to stop us today? The restrictions were for yesterday. They say this is a free country, but sometimes they think we are their slaves.
We are not anyone’s slaves. If we are slaves, we are the people’s slaves,” the National Conference leader said, targeting the security forces in the Valley, which are under Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s control. “They tried to stop us, to tear apart our flags, but their attempts failed. We came and read the fatiha,” he said.
The administration of the Lieutenant Governor had denied permission for the Martyrs’ Day function and warned of strict action against anyone who tried to proceed towards the Martyrs’ Graveyard.
