The All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) has given a complete shutdown call on Sunday (July 13) to mark the Kashmir Martyrs’ Day in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir. According to Kashmir Media Service, all pro-freedom leaders and organizations have supported the shutdown call to commemorate the martyrdom of 22 Kashmiris, who were killed by the forces of Dogra ruler on July 13, 1931. The APHC has also asked the people of the occupied territory to conduct a march towards the Martyrs’ Graveyard at Naqshband Sahib in Srinagar to offer Fateha for the departed souls.

These martyrs remain buried at this Martyrs’ Graveyard in Srinagar.  It is to mention here that thousands of people had assembled outside the Srinagar central jail on July 13, 1931 during the court proceedings against one Abdul Qadeer who had asked the people to defy the Dogra rule. At the time of Namaz-e-Zuhr, a young man started Azaan and was shot dead by the Dogra soldiers. Another took his place and he too was martyred by the troops. In this way, 22 youth lost their lives till the completion of Azaan. 

The APHC spokesman, Advocate Abdul Rashid Minhas, in a statement in Srinagar said that the sacred blood of these martyrs ignited the candle of freedom in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. He said the sacrifices of the Kashmiri martyrs will not be allowed to go waste and the ongoing struggle for freedom of Kashmir will be taken to its logical conclusion.  

Meanwhile, the APHC leaders in Srinagar said that 22 sacred souls of 13th July 1931 and since Dogra autocratic rule and Indian occupied over six hundred thousand martyrs, who sacrificed their lives while fighting tyranny and oppression are the real heroes of Kashmiris who will never forget the blood and supreme sacrifices of their martyrs for the freedom cause.

The ongoing struggle is the continuation and sequence of that movement which was started by great martyrs of 13th July 1931, and the best way to pay tributes to the martyrs is to carry on their mission to its logical end, they said.  “The message of July 13 martyrs is loud and clear that martyrdom is better than the curse of slavery and Kashmiris will not only follow the message of their ancestors but also continue their great cause and noble mission”, they said. 

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)