‘Martyrs day’ is the first organised violence against the Kashmiri Pandits by the then Muslim Conference of Kashmir.
July 13, 1931, is linked with some heartrending happenings, which were the outcome of the conspiracy hatched by the imperialists who had created a communal frenzy to create hurdles on the path of achieving Independence of India and then worked for communal division of Bharat with a design for having a theoretic State of Pakistan.
The originator of July 13 incident was one Abdul Qadir who was not even a resident of the state and had come from Peshawar to Kashmir with a British high-up staying in Kashmir and his highly provocative speeches resulted in communal hostility. So he was arrested and charged with inciting communal passions. When the trial began on July 8, 1931, the majority community of the Valley took to streets in large numbers and the processions continued for days together. Fearing riots, the administration discontinued the open trial and decided to continue it in Central Jail.
On July 13, when the trial was to restart, a huge crowd gathered and at the arrival of the magistrate, the mob broke into the jail premises saying that they want to have a glimpse of Qadir. As the mob was not allowed to enter the jail premises, it turned violent and attacked minority Hindus, plundered their shops and looted their properties. When the situation went out of control, the state administration resorted to the use of the armed forces and in the firing some hoodlums from the rioting mob were killed. The Muslim Conference, now National Conference, declared them ‘martyrs’ of Kashmir.
