Voices go shriller against July 13 as ‘Martyrs’ Day’

Sumit Hakhoo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 28

Displaced Kashmiri Pandits have intensified their movement against observance of July 13 as “Martyrs’ Day” by the state government.

They demanded that as a first step the observance of July 13 as “Martyrs’ Day” in the state be stopped forthwith, and instead October 26 be declared as the J&K State Day, as it was on this day that the Instrument of Accession was signed by the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir paving way for accession of J&K into the Union of India.

The displaced Kashmiri Pandits have already launched a campaign with a memorandum submitted to the Central government, seeking its intervention on the issue.

The day is marked in J&K to remember 21 protesters who died in firing by the security forces of erstwhile ruler Maharaja Hari Singh in 1931 in Srinagar.

They said this day was being observed by the Kashmiri Pandit community as the “black day” since 1932 in commemoration of the persecution that was inflicted upon the society on that day in the Valley.

People had attempted to storm the Central Jail to free Abdul Qadeer, a cook with a British officer who delivered a fiery speech against the Maharaja and was subsequently arrested and put on trial for sedition.

Many people leading the protests later become part of the Muslim Conference (now National Conference) formed by late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in 1932.

For decades now, except some ritualistic functions and laying of wreaths at “martyrs’ graveyards” in Srinagar, where the protesters are buried, people in other parts of the state attach little significance to the day.

“Apart from a holiday, Ladakh attaches no importance to the event. Our region has always faced neglect in all spheres since Kashmir political parties dominated the J&K government,” said Sonum Dawa, secretary of the Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA), a powerful body of the Ladakh region.

“Any debate on the event clearly divides people of the state on regional and ideological basis as in recent years protests have been organised by civil society groups in the Jammu region,” Dawa added.

Noted historian Prof Hari Om said events in 1931 were directed against the ruler, Maharaja Hari Singh, and Dogras in general and observing it as the state day was being opposed for the past several years.

“State holiday should be cancelled as the movement was directed against the Dogras of Jammu, who where later attacked along with Kashmiri Pandits, when forces of Maharaja fired on protesters. October 26 is a significant day when the Instrument of Accession was signed and J&K become part of India and saved the state from falling into the laps of Pakistan,” said Prof Om.

While historians in the Valley consider it first mass awakening against the “autocratic rule of the Dogra Maharaja”, Kashmiri Pandits have been observing it as “black day” to remember the victims of what they say “communal riots”. “There is a need to correct the historical anomaly of the incident in J&K. There was rioting at Vicharnag, Maharajganj, Amirakadal and Kanikoot. There is a need to study correct the history surrounding the event,” said Panun Kashmir president Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo.