Raja Muhammad Sajjad Khan
DOGRA family was the ruler of Kashmir through the treaty of Amritsar of 1846. Kashmir was a princely state under the suzerainty of the British Empire. The life of the Muslim population of Kashmir was very miserable under the oppressive and tyrannical rule of dogra rulers. There were separate laws for Muslims and non-Muslims, even capital punishment was granted on cow slaughter. Heavy taxes were imposed and there were many kinds of taxes. According to Walter Lawrence, “Army was employed in forcing the villagers to plough and sow, and worse still, the soldiers came at harvest time and when the share of the state had been seized” and “there was very little grain to tide the unfortunate peasants over the cruel winter.” The Muslim population in Kashmir was against the rulers because of these and many other barbaric acts. On 21 July 1924 the “Resham Khana” (Silk Factory) incident was first public awakening against this regime. It was an industrial unit in Srinagar having 5000 workers. The workers protested against low wages given to them out of which corrupt Hindu officers took a substantial scheme of their bribe. This uprising was crushed by Dogra Cavalry, which killed Muslims with both bayonets and bullets, trampling upon their dead bodies, to have the satisfaction of complete job. Police had arrested 21 leading workers. The second incident was a ban on Eid Khutba on 29 April 1931. A police official Stops the Khutba or sermon at a congregational religious service of Muslims in Jammu on the ground that it aloud with the Quranic passage about Moses and the Pharaoh and thus indirectly advocates seditions. Protest by worshipers in Jammu was led by Ch Ghulam Abbas. Expressions of vehement disapproval of police action in Srinagar and major towns.
The third incident was the desecration of the Holy Book “Holy Quran”. Police constable Fazal Dad was reciting a verse from the Holy Quran (Punj Sura), was accosted by the head warder of central jail Jammu for being late to attend his duties. The constable put away the holy book under his pillow and rolled his bedding. Labu Ram sub-inspector who was accompanying the warder threw away his bedding. The Muslim constable protested that this was the deliberate desecration of the Holy Quran. The sub-inspector was devilish enough to kick it. A public meeting convened on 21 June 1931 in the compound of Khanqa-i- Mulla to choose the representatives of Kashmiri Muslims. Seven representatives were elected, Khwaja Said-ud-Din Shawl, Mir Waiz Yousuf Shah, Mir Waiz Hamdani, Agha Syed Hussain Shah jalini,Khwaja Ghulam Ahmed Ashai,Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah & Munshi Shahb-ud-Deen. At the end of the meeting, Abdul Qadeer delivered a speech against the ruler Maharaja and he was arrested. Due to large public resentment, the trial court of Abdul Qadeer was shifted to Central Jail Srinagar. On 13 July 1931, thousands of people thronged the Central Jail Srinagar to witness the trial. 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, 22 Kashmiris embraced martyrdom in their efforts to complete the Azan. The people carried dead and paraded through the streets of Srinagar, chanting slogans against Dogra brutalities.
A complete strike was observed in Kashmir and traffic from Srinagar to Jammu and Rawalpindi came to a halt from 13 to 26 July 1931. The martyrs were Ghulam Mohammad Halwai 25 years Jamia Masjid, Abdul Khalique Shora 33 years Wazapura, Ghulam Nabi Kalawal 27 years Pandan, Ghulam Mohammad Soofi 20 years Daribal, Ghulam Qadir Butt 22 years Mohalla Bahandin, Mohammad Ramazan 19 years Khanyar, Mohammad Usman 20 years Kalashpura, Ghulam Mohammad Naqash 22 years Kani Kadal, Ghulam Rasool Darzi 23 years Ahmeda Kadal,Amir Joo Jandagaroo 27 years Gojwara,Abdul Ahad 23 years Gao Kadal, Ghulam Ahmed Kalbaf, 32 years Fateh Kadal, Amir Joo Makai 35 years Nawa Kadal, Shaaban Joo Makai 60 years Nawa Kadal, Subhan Khan 22 years Nawab Bazar, Abdul Khalique 30 years Watal Kadal,Mohammad Akbar 33 years Zaldagar, Abdul Qadir 26 years Bahauddin Sahib, Ghulam Rasool Dora 27 years Gotapura, Ahmed Rather 30 years Nowshehra, Ahmed Dar 30 years Nowshehra and Wali Wani 50 years Batapura.
The Mahraja was not allowing any memorial of these martyes and want to burry them in their respective graveyards. Due to public pressure the Government had granted permission to Mir Waiz Molana Muhammad Yousaf Shah to make funeral arrangements of the martyrs. Twenty two funerals were buried at the graveyard in Hazarat Khawaja Naqshband shrine in the old city and the graveyard has since known as Mazar-i-Shuhada (mausoleum of martyrs). From that day every year people of Jammu and Kashmir are observing this day as Kashmir Martyrs Day. The tyrannical rule of Dogra rulers ended in 1947 but the people of India-occupied Jammu and Kashmir are still under occupation and oppression of India and they are struggling for liberation and right to self-determination.
—The writer is PhD (Law) Scholar at IIU, Islamabad.
