Strike in Kashmir to remember the martyrs

The strike was called by both factions of Hurriyat Conference to remember those Kashmiris martyred by the forces of autocratic ruler Maharaja Hari Singh outside the Srinagar's Central Jail here.

According to reports, the government imposed restrictions in some parts of old Srinagar to foil the march called by pro-freedom leaders towards
Martyrs Graveyard Naqshband Sahab Shrine.

Chairmen of both factions of Hurriyat Conferences Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and other senior pro-freedom leaders Muhammad Yasin Malik, Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) Chairman Shabir Ahmad Shah, were put under house arrest.

Shops and business establishments remained closed across the valley and traffic was off the roads. Even the inter-district transport was thin.

In Khanyar area of old Srinagar where the Martyrs Graveyard is located, the police and the CRPF laid razor wires and erected barricades at road junctions since Friday evening to stop the movement of people. Besides the fortification of the area around the graveyard, armored vehicles of police and CRPF were also seen at road junctions.

Twenty three Kashmiris fell to bullets of troopers of Dogra ruler Hari Singh on July 13, 1931.

The Kashmiris were protesting the prosecution of Abdul Qadeer Khan outside Central Jail in Srinagar.

Khan, an Afghan cook who was accompanying a British visitor in Kashmir had used podium set up by the then leadership of Kashmir and raised his voice against the  atrocities and oppression of Hari Singh up on Kashmiris. Soon after he was arrested and a trail court was set against him.

On July 13 when a hearing was scheduled to happen in his case, hundreds of Kashmiris had gathered outside Central Jail who were protesting against his illegal arrest and demanded that the trial should happen in an open court.

The cops, who were guarding the central jail, were directed to open fire on the beleaguered Kashmiris resulting in the death of 21 Kashmiris.

(Reporting by Saleem Iqbal Qadri)