Srinagar: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today lashed out at a section of the local press, accusing them of burying the truth about the “lockdown” of elected leaders on Martyrs’ Day on July 13.
In a post on X, Omar said: “Take a look at our local newspapers — both from Jammu & from Srinagar, English & vernacular. You’ll be able to distinguish the cowards from the ones with guts. The cowards have completely buried the fact that the entire elected government was locked up yesterday along with most elected representatives. The newspapers with some guts have put it on the front page. Shame on the sellouts who buried the story, I hope the size of the envelope was worth it.”
A day after he and others were stopped from visiting the graves of the July 13, 1931 martyrs, Omar reached Mazar-e-Shuhada in Srinagar’s Nowhatta area today — but not without facing hurdles.
“Paid my respects & offered Fatiha at the graves of the martyrs of 13th July 1931,” Omar wrote in another post. “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.”
Omar was accompanied by senior National Conference leaders including Dr Farooq Abdullah and Deputy CM Surinder Choudhary. The leaders paid floral tributes to the 22 Kashmiris who were killed by Dogra forces in 1931 during a protest against autocratic rule.
Sunday had seen tight restrictions across parts of Srinagar, with roads blocked and several elected representatives reportedly placed under house arrest. Omar had then described the move as “blatantly undemocratic.”
“Homes were locked from the outside, police and central forces deployed as jailers, and major bridges in Srinagar blocked. All to stop people from visiting a graveyard where people who gave their lives to empower Kashmiris are buried,” he said. “I will never understand what the Law & Order government is so afraid of.”
He further said: “To borrow from the late Arun Jaitley Sb — Democracy in J\&K is a tyranny of the unelected. The unelected nominees of New Delhi locked up the elected representatives of the people of J&K.”
Since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, July 13 is no longer an official holiday in the Union Territory.
In another remark, Omar had likened the 1931 massacre to Jallianwala Bagh, saying: “The people who laid down their lives did so against the British. What a shame that true heroes who fought against British rule are today projected as villains only because they were Muslims.”
