Kolkata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday slammed the Jammu and Kashmir district administration for imposing restrictions on visiting Mazar-e-Shuhada (Martyrs' graveyard) in Srinagar's Naqshband Sahib. Questioning the administration, she said that such a restriction "snatches away democratic rights of a citizen."

"What is wrong in visiting the graveyard of martyrs? This is not only unfortunate, it also snatches the democratic right of a citizen. What happened this morning to an elected Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is unacceptable. Shocking. Shameful," she wrote in a post on X.

The Bengal CM's remarks come after J&K CM Omar Abdullah jumped over the boundary wall of Mazar-e-Shuhada in Srinagar to offer prayers after allegedly being stopped by the security forces and the police. Abdullah also alleged that the security forces tried to "physically grapple" him while trying to stop him.

The development came a day after the Jammu and Kashmir Police sealed the Martyrs' cemetery and confined top political leaders, including Abdullah, inside their residences. barring them from visiting the Martyrs' Graveyard, to mark the anniversary of the 22 protesters who were shot dead by Dogra king Hari Singh's forces on July 13, 1931.

Earlier on Monday, while hitting out at the J&K police for trying to stop him from reciting Fatiha (prayers) in the memory of 22 martyrs, Abdullah asserted, "We are nobody's slaves."

He added that he must be informed under which law he was stopped from visiting the Mazar-e-Shuhada in Srinagar's Naqshband Sahib. The Jammu and Kashmir CM said that despite attempts to stop him, he was able to recite prayers.

The CM claimed that everyone was put under "house arrest" and bunkers were installed outside his residence after he expressed the will to recite prayers at the Naqshband Sahib graveyard. He said that this is why he visited the Martyrs' graveyard without informing. He also expressed anguish over the lack of media coverage in local newspapers on the issue of "the entire elected government being locked up."

The graveyard is attached to the shrine of Khwaja Bahawuddin Naqshbandi.

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Martyrs' Day in Kashmir was earlier observed as an official holiday in the erstwhile state. It was delisted after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.