Srinagar, July 11 (KMS): In occupied Kashmir, the Joint Resistance Leadership has called for complete shutdown on the Kashmir Martyrs’ Day on 13th July (Saturday), to reiterate the urgent need for a peaceful and just resolution of the Kashmir dispute and to put an end to repression against the Kashmiri people and Hurriyat leaders.
The JRL in a statement issued in Srinagar, today, also called for a march towards the Martyrs’ Graveyard at Naqashband Sahib in Srinagar where martyrs of 1931 are buried.
On the 13th of July 1931, the troops of Dogra Maharaja had killed 22 Kashmiris, one after the other, outside Central Jail in Srinagar during the court proceedings against one Abdul Qadeer who had asked Kashmiri people to defy the Dogra rule. Thousands of people had gathered outside the court to show their solidarity with Abdul Qadeer. As the time for obligatory Zuhar prayers approached, one of the youth stood up and started reciting Azan. He was shot dead by the Dogra soldiers and next youth started the Azan where it was left by the martyred youth. He was also killed and in the process of completing the Azan a total of 22 Kashmiris were martyred, one after the other. Scores of other people were injured after the troops opened fire to disperse the protesters. This massacre is the blackest chapter in the history of Dogra regime.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Hurriyat forum, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, in a statement in Srinagar paying glorious tributes to the martyrs of 13th July said that the uprising of 1931 was the first strong and collective voice of the people of Jammu and Kashmir against the century-old oppressive autocratic rule and those killed were among the first martyrs of Kashmir.
He said the Kashmiris’ struggle for securing their right to self-determination continues since then in which lacs of people have rendered their lives. He said the Kashmiri people want a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute and an end to human rights violations by Indian troops in the occupied territory.
The statement said as per tradition to pay homage to the martyrs of 13th July 1931, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq will lead a peaceful march after Zuhr prayers from Jamia Masjid Srinagar to the Martyrs’ Graveyard at Naqshband Sahib to offer special prayers for the martyrs collectively.