Every year, Kashmir Martyrs’ Day (Youme Shudaha-e-Kashmir) is commemorated on July 13 in the memory of 21 Kashmiris who were martyred outside Srinagar Central Jail by the troops of Dogra Maharaja on 13 July 1931. This day is observed on both sides of the Line of Control and all over the world by the Kashmiris, including their Pakistani brethren, to pay homage to these Kashmiris.
In fact, the history of Dogra rule (1846-1947) in Kashmir is replete with tyrannous treatment meted out to the Kashmiri Muslims by Dogra forces. Under the Dogra rule, they were leading such miserable lives that it was difficult to differentiate them from beasts. Slave labour, heavy taxes, capital punishment for cow slaughter, and living under constant terror was the order of the day.
On 19 April 1931, the ban of Eid Khutba (Sermon) ignited widespread demonstrations in the Jummu city for a number of days. It was followed by desecration of the Holy Quran at the hands of Dogra forces, which resulted in outrage among the Muslims throughout the state. In Srinagar, people gathered in Jamia Masjid to denounce this blasphemy. One such get-together was held in Khanqah-e-Molla Srinagar, which was addressed by prominent Kashmiris. When the meeting was concluded, a youth, Abdul Qadeer, pointing his finger to the Maharaja’s palace, raised slogans “Destroy its every brick.” With the accusation of sedition, he was arrested forthwith. Abdul Qadir was to be tried in the court, but due to large public resentment, the court was shifted to Central Jail Srinagar.
On 12 July 1931, in response to the shifting of court, intense public protests were held throughout the city. The next day, thousands of people thronged the Central Jail Srinagar to witness the in-camera trial of Abdul Qadeer. As the time for obligatory prayer approached, a young Kashmiri stood for Azan. The Dogra Governor, Ray Zada Tartilok Chand, ordered soldiers to open fire at him. When he got martyred, another young man took his place and started Azan. He was also shot dead. In this way, 21 Kashmiris embraced martyrdom in their efforts to complete the Azan. The people carried the dead and paraded through the streets of Srinagar, chanting slogans against Dogra brutalities. Complete strike was observed in the city, which was followed by weeklong mourning. This incident shook the whole state and the traffic from Srinagar to Rawalpindi and Srinagar to Jammu came to halt from 13 to 26 July. The 21 martyrs are buried in Martyrs’ Graveyard at Khawaja Bazar, Srinagar.
Consequent upon these brutal killings, the Kashmiri leadership realized the need to form a political party, Muslim Conference, with a view to waging struggle for their freedom. Afterwards, on 19 July 1947, MC passed a resolution to merge Kashmir with Pakistan, considering the geographical proximity, the majority Muslim population (77 percent), language and cultural relations of Jammu and Kashmir.
During the partition of the Sub-continent, the people of the state of Jammu and Kashmir which had a Muslim majority decided to join Pakistan. Hoever, the Dogra Raja, Sir Hari Singh, a Hindu who was ruling over the J&K in collusion with the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Governor General Lord Mountbatten, joined India.
The Radcliffe Boundary Award gave the Gurdaspur District, a majority Muslim area, to India to provide a land route to the Indian forces to move into the J&K.
Indian forces invaded Srinagar on 27 October 1947 and forcibly occupied the J&K in utter violation of the partition plan.
When Pakistan responded militarily, on 31 December 1947, India made an appeal to the UN Security Council to intervene and a ceasefire ultimately came into effect on 1 January 1949, following UN resolutions calling for a plebiscite in Kashmir.
Modi can stage another false flag operation against Pakistan to strengthen the NDA coalition government without bothering that full-scale conventional war with Pakistan may culminate into atomic war, enveloping the entire region and probably the whole world. Nonetheless, the Kashmir Martyrs’ Day gives a greater impetus to the Kashmiris’ freedom fighters who continue their struggle, demanding their legitimate right of self-determination, as recognized by the UN resolutions.
On 5 February 1964, India backed out of its commitment of holding a plebiscite. Instead, the Indian Parliament declared Kashmir-an integral part of the Indian union.
Since 1989, various forms of state terrorism have been part of a deliberate campaign by the Indian army and paramilitary forces against Muslim Kashmiris. It has been manifested in various ruthless tactics.
On 5 August 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leader of the BJP-led extremist government, revoked Articles 35A and 370 of the Constitution, which gave a special status to the disputed territory. The Indian government bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, to be ruled by the federal government. On the same day, strict military lockdown was imposed in Indian-Occupied Kashmir which continues unabated.
Due to Modi’s pressure, the verdict of the Indian Supreme Court on December 11 upheld the decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special constitutional status in 2019.
While, the deployment of more than 900,000 military troops in the Indian-Occupied Kashmir, who have martyred tens of thousands of the Kashmiris, including women and children through brutal tactics like fake encounters; closure of mosques, shortage of foods, medicines for the patients have further increased the plight of the Kashmiris.
In order to hide human rights violations, communication services have been cut off from the world and foreign journalists are not allowed to enter the Kashmir region.
While, under a well-planned hidden agenda, the Modi-led regime has intensified measures, bringing ethno-demographic changes in Indian-Occupied Kashmir. In this context, Indian various moves such as introduction of new laws, amendment of the laws to facilitate non-Kashmiris and outsiders in order to usurp the rights of the Muslim Kashmiris—issuance of domicile certificates to more than 800000 non-Kashmiris, registration of almost 2.5 million new non-local voters in the Indian-Occupied Kashmir—failure of fake drama to host G-20 summit on May 22-24, 2022 in the Indian-Occupied Kashmir might be cited as instance.
Despite the use of chemical weapons, pellet guns and phosphorus bombs, Kashmiris have accelerated their struggle for independence.
Notably, Indian forces have been also availing various draconian laws such as Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), the Public Safety Act (PSA) etc. in martyring the Kashmiri people, and for arbitrarily arresting any individual for an indefinite period.
Western media, human rights groups and leaders of various countries and UNO have repeatedly condemned Indian illegal measures and human rights abuses which keep on going in the Indian-Occupied Kashmir.
In this context, US House of Representatives Terry Meza participated in a recent event organized by Kashmir Global Council (KGC) and South Asia Democracy Watch in Frisco Texas. Ms. Terry Meeza was the chief guest and the symposium was attended by well-known social activist Ms. Beverly Hill, and various entities.
Endorsing Kashmirs’ freedom, Meza said that she is against any form of oppression and stressed the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir—a resolution was passed which stressed for upholding the human rights of Kashmiri people and appealed to allow the UN Human Rights Commission to verify the report compiled by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in 2018-19.
Now, at the global level there is growing noticeable awareness regarding Indian’s brutal acts and atrocities in Indian-Occupied Kashmir.
Continuing his anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan approach, Indian PM Modi sworn in as India’s prime minister on June 9, this year for a rare third term.
The BJP, together with its National Democratic Alliance (NDA), has won a majority, despite a sharp reduction in their seats compared with the 2019 elections. Modi has been elected leader of the NDA alliance.
Critics say “Modi undermined India’s democracy and its status as a secular nation with attacks by Hindu nationalists against the country’s minorities, particularly Muslims”.
Modi unveiled his coalition government’s 30 cabinet posts especially including anti-Pakistan Ajit Doval.
Meanwhile, at least 10 people have been killed on June 9, this year after a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims in the Indian-Occupied Kashmir was attacked by Kashmirs’ freedom fighters.
Most of the Indian media entities allegedly blamed Pakistan for the assault on the bus.
Ronak Shahi, a resident of Hyderabad, shared his anxieties with DW, stating, “Modi administration has strained relations with neighbouring countries, and there is concern that these conflicts might escalate further. The situation in Kashmir, which lost its special status during Modi’s rule, is particularly tense and is expected to deteriorate further”.
The newly elected Modi can arrange another false flag operation against Pakistan to keep his coalition (NDA) united, and to divert attention from his weak government.
India regularly accuses Pakistan and its superior intelligence agency ISI of supporting and arming rebels in Kashmir, a charge Islamabad always denied.
Since Modi became Indian PM, he started implementing the ideology of Hindutva (Hindu Nationalism). Again, during the election campaign of 2024, the Hindu majority was mobilized especially on ‘hate Muslim’ slogans.
Tension escalated rapidly between New Delhi and Islamabad in the aftermath of the false flag Pulwama terror attack in the Indian-Occupied Kashmir— when on 27 mFebruary 2019, in response to the Indian so-called pre-emptive air strike near the town of Balakot, close to the border with Pakistan’s sector of Kashmir, which resulted into no casualties, Pakistan Air Force shot down two Indian Air Force fighter jets and launched aerial strikes at six targets in the Indian-Occupied Kashmir.
Once again, by ignoring the danger of nuclear war, India wants to recreate the Pulwama drama to obtain political goals. Global media reports also confirmed that Indian forces are spreading terrorism along the Line of Control (LoC) to achieve political ambitions.
In this respect, BJP leader Dr. Subramaniam Swami had stated that India needed only two years to defeat Pakistan militarily, and the only solution of Kashmir was war, as “there is no peaceful”.
Pakistan’s civil and military leaders have repeatedly stated that Pakistan’s armed forces “are ready to respond to any Indian aggression with full might”.
Modi can stage another false flag operation against Pakistan to strengthen the NDA coalition government without bothering that full-scale conventional war with Pakistan may culminate into atomic war, enveloping the entire region and probably the whole world.
Nonetheless, the Kashmir Martyrs’ Day gives a greater impetus to the Kashmiris’ freedom fighters who continue their struggle, demanding their legitimate right of self-determination, as recognized by the UN resolutions.
