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Chief Minister Omar Abdullah along with several Cabinet ministers, including senior Congress leaders, paid tributes at the martyrs’ graveyard in Naqshband Sahab here. He laid wreaths at the graves while he took the guard of honour with a 21-gun salute presented in memory of 22 persons, who were gunned down outside the Srinagar Central Jail on this day in 1931 during the Dogra rule. Moderate Hurriyat faction chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik were placed under house arrest as they along with their supporters were planning to take out a procession towards Naqshband Sahab. Old city areas wore a deserted look due to the heavy deployment of security forces amid restrictions under five police stations to foil the separatist leaders’ scheduled march. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar, who is also the MLA of the old city’s Khanyar constituency, defended the imposition of restrictions. “It was necessary to maintain peace and law and order,” he said. While other separatist leaders were also placed under house arrest, Democratic Freedom Party chairman Shabir Shah tried to break the police cordon outside his Sanatnagar residence here along with his supporters. However, he was detained near his residence. Before being detained, Shah flayed the government for allowing mainstream leaders to pay “pseudo homage” at the martyrs’ graveyard while putting curbs on the separatists. Chairman of the hardline Hurriyat faction Syed Ali Geelani too was detained after he attempted to take out a march towards Naqshband Sahab along with his supporters outside his Hyderpora residence. Even as the overall situation remained calm but tense, the shutdown call of the separatists disrupted normal life across the Valley. While offices and educational institutions remained closed in view of the state holiday, most of the shops and other business establishments remained closed as well. The maximum effect of the shutdown call was felt at areas in and around Lal Chowk, the city centre. However, a few shops were seen open in the civil lines areas. The movement of private transport remained thin. Meanwhile, opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) patron and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and president of Democratic Party of Nationalist (DPN) Ghulam Hassan Mir, who is also the Minister for Agriculture, too paid tributes at the martyrs’ graveyard. The DPN also held a blood donation camp at the Sher-i-Kashmir Park here to commemorate the day.@ Goes back to 1931 On July 13, 1931, 22 persons who were protesting against the then Dogra ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh, were killed in police firing. The protesters were demanding establishment of a democratic system in Jammu and Kashmir. Since 1931, July 13 is observed as Martyrs’ Day. Some Kashmiri Pandit organisations allege that after the firing, the mob turned violent and they attacked houses of Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir valley. Some Kashmiri Pandit organisations observe July 13 as Black Day.
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