Overview

• The National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party and J&K Apni Party have formally written this week to the Lt. Governor and Srinagar district magistrate seeking to restore July 13 as a gazetted holiday and to revive official commemorations.
• Party leaders including Farooq Abdullah, NC general secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar, PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti and JKAP’s Altaf Bukhari have sought permission to lay wreaths at the Mazar-e-Shuhada graveyard on July 13.
• Authorities have neither approved the holiday proposal nor granted event permissions and have deployed security and restricted access around the Srinagar martyrs’ cemetery.
• Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was placed under house arrest and barred from leading Friday prayers at Jama Masjid to prevent mention of the 1931 martyrs in his sermon.
• J&K BJP spokesman Altaf Thakur has reiterated his party’s intention to oppose any government functions on July 13, disputing the term “martyrs” for those killed in 1931.