Martyrs’ Day in a muzzled Kashmir

ON July 14, the spirit of democratic remembrance clashed with the heavy hand of state power in Jammu and Kashmir. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s dramatic act of scaling the locked gate of the Martyrs’ Graveyard in Srinagar exposed the growing discomfort of the administration with public political expression in the union territory. Martyrs’ Day, commemorating the 22 Kashmiris killed by the Dogra Maharaja’s forces in 1931, has long been a solemn occasion. The administration’s decision to place several political leaders, including Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah, under house arrest and barricade the Mazar-e-Shuhada has sent a chilling message. It wasn’t just about security. It was about rewriting memory — and who gets to remember.

The irony was hard to miss: the unelected administration physically prevented elected representatives from paying tributes to those who died demanding justice and dignity. Omar’s words — “The unelected locked up the elected” — ring with truth. The clampdown reveals a deeper pattern in the post-Article 370 Kashmir: mainstream political space is being squeezed while electoral legitimacy is undermined. That the police stopped citizens from visiting a memorial is disturbing. Even more so is the implication that remembering the 1931 martyrs is now politically suspect. In a place already wary of erasures and silences, this act comes as another blow to democratic healing and public trust.

Adding to the disquiet is the delay in restoring Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood. While the Central government has assured Parliament and the Supreme Court that statehood will be reinstated at an “appropriate time", such vague assurances only deepen mistrust. The continuation of Lieutenant-Governor’s rule reinforces the belief that full democratic rights remain suspended. If elected voices are stifled even in mourning, what space remains for dialogue, dissent or hope?

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