By Sarwar Kashani, IANS
Srinagar : As Kashmir readies to observe martyrs' day Friday, politicians from both nationalist parties and separatist groups are busy outdoing each other in owning the sacrifices of those who died fighting for democracy 76 years ago.
While political parties would like to think of the day in 1931 as laying the ground for democracy, separatists see it as sowing the seeds of Kashmir's struggle for freedom from India.
Both sides of the proverbial coin in this case with separate functions organised every year by both groupings to remember the day when the autocratic Dogra regime ordered indiscriminate firing against thousands of peaceful demonstrators in Srinagar demanding democracy in the then princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.
At least 23 people were killed on the orders of Maharaja Hari Singh – though the struggle for self-rule in Jammu and Kashmir had started in 1922, it took organised shape with the birth of the Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference in 1931 by Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah.
The dead were laid to rest at the Mazar-e-Shuhada (martyrs' graveyard) in the lawns of Khwaja Bahauddin Naqashband Shrine in downtown Srinagar, where tributes and prayers are offered every year on the day.
Traditionally, the chief minister of the state is the first to lay floral wreaths on the graves. But all parties, cutting across party affiliations, hail the contribution of the martyrs in their own terms and define the 1931 carnage as crucial in shaping the political mindset of the Kashmiris.
The nationalistic political outfits say the sacrifices of the martyrs sowed the seeds of democracy, now in full bloom in Jammu and Kashmir, because they laid the foundation of a society in which the rights of the people are supreme.
Separatist leaders look on the day from quite another view. It is the day, they say, that laid the foundation of the "Kashmiris' freedom struggle".
According to National Conference leader Ali Mohammed Sagar, the purpose of observing martyrs' day is to express determination for upholding the principles for which the people sacrificed their lives.
"These people fought a relentless war against those who were hell bent upon snatching the freedom of the people."
However, Shabir Ahmed Shah, chief of the separatist Democratic Freedom Party, feels that 1931 stirred the conscience of Kashmiris for freedom.
"They laid the seed for the freedom struggle. It's for us to follow their footsteps. Their movement is on and will not die until Kashmir is freed from India," said Shah.
The common person, unwary of the politicking, remains confused about how to view the martyrs.
"Politicisation of these sacrifices is disturbing, and of course an insult," said Jawahira Bano, 45, of Srinagar, whose grandfather was among the first to fall to the bullets of the Dogra rulers.
She distributes a special drink, "qand sharbat", among children in the area to bestow peace to her "martyred grandfather".
Qand sharbat distribution on this day – an apolitical exercise blended with sincerity – has evolved as a common practice in this religious conservative society and Jawahira Bano is only continuing the tradition.