Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said that the ‘unelected nominees of New Delhi locked up the elected representatives’ of the people of Jammu and Kashmir after prominent leaders from ruling and opposition parties were not allowed to leave their houses to prevent them from visiting the graveyard of 1931 martyrs in Srinagar.
The detentions, which were not officially confirmed by police or the administration, were widely reported by leaders who posted videos and pictures showing their gates locked or blocked by security personnel to stop them from going to the Naqshband Sahib graveyard near Nowhatta in the old city to pay tributes on Martyrs’ Day.
The Srinagar district administration had denied permission to all applicants, including the ruling National Conference leaders, to visit the graveyard.
All roads leading to the area located in downtown were barricaded with a heavy presence of police personnel on Sunday.
In a post on X, the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister likened the July 13, 1931 incident to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, 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.’
Abdullah criticised the house detentions, and said ‘in a blatantly undemocratic move, homes have been locked from the outside, police and central forces deployed as jailers… All to stop people from visiting a historically important graveyard.’
‘To borrow from the late Arun Jaitley Sb – Democracy in J&K is a tyranny of the unelected. To put it in terms you will all understand today the unelected nominees of New Delhi locked up the elected representatives of the people of J&K,’ the chief minister said.
To borrow from the late Arun Jaitley Sb – Democracy in J&K is a tyranny of the unelected.
To put it in terms you will all understand today the unelected nominees of New Delhi locked up the elected representatives of the people of J&K. pic.twitter.com/hTkWlR0P0s— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) July 13, 2025
The National Conference leader said, “We may be denied the opportunity to visit their graves today, but we will not forget their sacrifices”.
July 13 used to be a public holiday in Jammu and Kashmir before the reorganisation of the erstwhile state into two Union territories in August 2019. The administration dropped the day from the list of gazetted holidays in 2020.
On the day, mainstream political leaders used to visit the ‘Martyrs’ graveyard’ to pay homage to the Kashmiris who fell to the bullets of the forces during a protest against the then Dogra ruler in 1931.
Senior National Conference leader and advisor to the chief minister, Nasir Wani, termed the detentions as a ‘misuse’ of power, specifically highlighting what he called a conflict between the ‘nominated system’ of the central administration and the ‘elected government’.
This sentiment was echoed by others who saw the move as an attempt to undermine the authority of the newly elected government.
Srinagar Police had issued a public advisory and posted on its handle on X on Saturday that the ‘District Administration Srinagar has denied permission to all applicants intending to proceed towards Khawaja Bazar, Nowhatta on 13th July 2025 (Sunday).’
The district magistrate had also rejected the ruling National Conference’s plea seeking permission for NC president Farooq Abdullah and other senior functionaries to visit the graveyard.
Oppostion leaders slammed the detention , Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on X wrote
At a time when there is a growing demand for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood, the current events unfolding there are a grim reminder of how far things have deteriorated.
The elected CM Hon’ble @OmarAbdullah is being placed under house arrest simply for wanting to pay homage to the 1931 martyrs and is forced to climb walls to do so. Is this how an elected Chief Minister should be treated?
This is not just about one state or one leader. From Tamil Nadu to Kashmir, the Union BJP Government is systematically stripping away the rights of elected State Governments.
If this can happen in Kashmir, it can happen anywhere, to any elected representative of the people. Every democratic voice must unequivocally condemn this.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote on X
What is wrong in visiting the graveyard of martyrs? This is not only unfortunate, it also snatches the democratic right of a citizen. What happened this morning to an elected Chief Minister @OmarAbdullah is unacceptable. Shocking. Shameful.
