Srinagar, July 10 (IANS) The Omar Abdullah-led government in Jammu and Kashmir has approached Lt Governor Manoj Sinha with the demand that July 13 and December 5 should be restored as public holidays on account of Martyrs Day and the birthday of the National Conference (NC) founder, late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, respectively.

Both July 13 and December 5 were government holidays in the erstwhile J&K state and were declared as public holidays under the Negotiable Instruments Act 1881.

After the abrogation of Article 370 and the division of J&K into two union territories on August 5, 2019, these two holidays were removed from the government’s list of holidays.

July 13 pertains to the death of protesters who stormed the Srinagar central jail on this day in 1931 against the in camera trial of Abul Qadeer, a Pathan butler of a British officer, who had delivered a speech asking people to rise against the autocratic rule of Dogra Maharaja Hari Singh. Twenty-two protesters were killed in the firing by the prison guards, who were buried in the compound of the Naqashband Sahib shrine in the old city of Srinagar. This graveyard was later declared as the Martyrs’ Graveyard, and after Independence in 1947, this day was observed as Martyrs Day by the J&K government.

Founder of the ruling NC, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was born in the Soura locality of Srinagar outskirts on December 5, 1905, and his birthday was celebrated as a public holiday in J&K till its abolition in 2020.

The NC government made an electoral commitment to get both these dates restored as public holidays once the party came to power.

Sources in the NC said the government has formally asked the Lt Governor to restore these two holidays. With just two days left for July 13, there is no official word on the disposal of the NC demand by the UT’s Raj Bhawan. So far as the NC is concerned, its leaders say, “We have done what needed to be done”.

–IANS

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