Examiner Bureau | Srinagar:
The Lieutenant Governor’s administration on Monday imposed stringent restrictions across several parts of Srinagar to prevent people from assembling at the Martyrs’ Graveyard at Naqshband Sahib on the occasion of July 13.
Officials said the area within a one-kilometre radius of the graveyard had been sealed since Sunday, while additional barricades were erected in the Old City and parts of the civil lines as a precautionary measure. Police and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) were deployed in large numbers to maintain law and order and prevent any untoward incident.
The restrictions were enforced to prevent political leaders and members of the public from reaching the graveyard, where tributes are traditionally paid to those who were killed on July 13, 1931.
The area around Nowhatta witnessed extensive security arrangements, with concertina wire, plastic barricades, GI sheets, and metal barricades placed on major approach roads leading to the memorial.
Education Minister Sakina Itoo claimed she was prevented by security personnel from entering the graveyard despite attempting to visit the site early in the morning.
“I tried to visit the Mazar-e-Shuhada at 4.30 am today to pay my humble tributes to our martyrs of 13th July. However, due to the heavy deployment of security forces and extensive barbed-wire barricading around the graves, I was prevented from entering. I was accompanied by the Provincial President of the JKNC Women’s Wing, Sabiya Qadri,” Itoo said in a post on X.
Sources in the administration said the restrictions were imposed to avoid a repeat of last year’s events, when Chief Minister Omar Abdullah climbed over the locked gate of the graveyard to offer fateha after police denied entry to National Conference leaders.
In 2024, several political leaders, including Omar Abdullah, had initially been placed under house arrest ahead of the commemoration. Despite restrictions, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah reached the memorial by travelling in an autorickshaw from Khanyar, while Sakina Itoo rode pillion on a scooter to join him. Omar Abdullah later scaled the main gate of the graveyard to offer prayers, following which police opened the gates.
In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the police function under the administrative control of the Lieutenant Governor.
July 13 is observed by many in Kashmir to commemorate the 22 protesters who were killed outside Srinagar Central Jail in 1931 after soldiers of the Dogra administration opened fire during a demonstration. The day remains politically and historically significant in the region.
