Martyrs day: Kashmiris vow to continue freedom struggle

Tributes paid to victims of 1931 incident in Srinagar

MUZAFFARABAD: The “Martyrs Day” was observed across Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Monday to pay tribute to 22 people, who were killed by Dogra forces outside Srinagar Jail in 1931.

The day is being observed on July 13 every year to remember those who laid their lives for the right to self-determination and liberation from outsiders.

Speakers at a function organised by the Kashmir Liberation Cell, said that the best tribute to the martyrs was to take their mission (freedom struggle) to a logical conclusion. They pledged to take forward their mission.

AJK Rehabilitation Minister Abdul Majid Khan said that the Kashmir freedom struggle’s foundation was laid on that particular day, when 22 Kashmiris were killed by the Dogra forces.

“We need to forge unity in our rank and file to achieve the ultimate goal,” Khan said.

The minister said that the uprising against foreign forces even at that time indicated that the liberation movement was purely indigenous and no outsider was backing them.

Noted scholar Kifayat Hussain Naqvi said that the 1931 incident was the beginning of the ongoing liberation movement. “The martyred were the real heroes of Kashmir,” he said.

Prime Minister’s Media Adviser Shaukat Javid Mir said that Kashmiris’s struggle for their rights was replete with sacrifices. He said that the world community should take notice of Indian state terrorism in the Kashmir Valley.

Later, a rally was also taken out from the Central Press Club to Gharipan Chowk to remember the victims and to condemn the human rights violations in Indian Kashmir.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2015.