To prevent a gathering at Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah’s grave Thursday, the authorities imposed restrictions in the area. Individuals were, however, allowed to visit the grave to offer fathehah (prayers).
It was Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah’s 114 birth anniversary and a public holiday but only a few people, mostly party workers were seen at the grave.
The authorities restrained people from visiting the grave of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah at Hazratbal
Authorities Thursday imposed restriction in and around the mausoleum of National Conference founder Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah and didn’t allow any congregation prayers, however, individuals were permitted to visit he Abdullah’s burial chamber to offer prayers.
The National Conference would hold a function at the grave every year but with the patron, working chairman and the general secretary under detention, no such function could be held this year.
Some party leaders including the incumbent Member Parliament Hasnain Masoodi were allowed to visit the burial chamber who offered prayers there. There was no fleet of vehicles, no prominent leaders, no workers and no party flags waving in and around the mausoleum. “There was calm. Security personnel were deployed in and around the mausoleum who didn’t allow people to assemble,” said an elderly party worker.
Talking to newsmen, a security officer said: “There are restrictions and we have been directed not to allow congregational prayers at the grave. Masoodi said that today’s scene amply depicts that nothing is normal in Kashmir. “Sheikh Abdullah was a towering leader and to prohibit people to assemble at his grave speaks volumes about the situation. The entire National Conference leadership is under arrest. There is no internet. restrictions are there and still Government of India trumpets normalcy,” he said.
An unknown said that Sheikh Sahab would have never imagined that a day will come when the same country he supported will bar his relatives and workers from offering prayers for him. “He (Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah) was a lion and is still known as Lion of Kashmir. If he were alive today, things would have been different,” he said and accused BJP of present Kashmir mess.
National Conference leaders are under detention. Farooq Abdullah is facing detention under Public Safety Act-that was passed on the instructions of his father to deal with the jungle smugglers. But later, late Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah according to historians used the same Act against his opponents who were mainly from Jamat-e-Islami.
Sheikh Abdullah who was born in 1905 emerged on the scene after common people faced oppression from Dogra rulers. What happened after that is history.
Sheikh died in 1982. Being popular among people of Kashmir then, a sea of people participated in his funeral procession. Later with the eruption of militancy, his mausoleum was fortified and guarded by security personnel.