Srinagar: Kashmir High Court Bar Association on Friday paid tributes to martyrs of July 13, 1931.
In a statement issued here, the lawyers body said that on the day, the people of Kashmir stormed the gates of Central Jail, Srinagar and formed their way in the courtyard to watch the proceedings of a criminal case filed against one Abdul Qadeer, who was arrested for making a speech at Khankah-i-Moula for mobilizing the Muslims against the desecration of Holy Qur’an at Jammu police lines.
On this, the District Magistrate, Srinagar, without making any attempt to pacify the people, ordered the police to open fire, in which 21 innocent Kashmiries got killed and more than 300 were arrested, alongwith their leaders and were put behind the bars, the lawyers.
“It was thereafter that ‘All J&K Muslim Conference’ was formed at Srinagar in 1932 and Chaudhary Ghulam Abbas was elected its first General Secretary, who had played an important role in reviving Young Men’s Muslims Association of Jammu, which though established in 1909, had become defunct with the passage of time,’ the spokesman said. It was this Association which became motivating factor in the emergence of Reading Room Party at Srinagar, he said.
“The first session of Muslim Conference was thereafter held in the City on October 15th, 16th and 17th, 1932, but unfortunately the working committee of Muslim Conference which was at that time dominated by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, on June 28, 1938, recommended its General Council to change its name and constitution.”
By a resolution adopted on June 11, 1939, it said, the name of the organization was accordingly changed to “J&K National Conference”, which, with the passage of time, moved closer and closer towards Indian National Congress, the Bar Association said. It also invited Jawahar Lal Nehru to the State and accorded a rousing reception to him. Chaudhary Ghulam Abbas and many Jammu & Kashmir Muslims thereafter left the National Conference and revived Muslim Conference in 1941 and held its session in the Srinagar in 1943, which was presided over by “Qaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.”
“The Muslim Conference thereafter played an important part in Kashmir politics till 1947, when India got divided and two dominions India and Pakistan came into existence.”
While remembering the sacrifices of the people, who were martyred in 1931, the Bar Association, the spokesman said, expects that the people of Kashmir will carry forward their mission till “they achieve their goal, for which they have sacrificed a lot in terms of men and material, for the last 70 years.” (GNS)
