The Jammu and Kashmir police along with Central armed police forces on Saturday imposed a temporary partial lockdown in a Srinagar area to hold back public assemblies at the or ‘martyr’s cemetery’ on the Kashmir martyrs’ day. The leaders and activists of mainstream as well as separatist parties were not allowed to relocate to the commemorative site situated beside the mausoleum of a Sufi saint of Naqshbandi order, a mosque and a hospice in Khawaja Bazaar area of central Srinagar. They were either placed under house detention or their movements were restricted by the police whereas J&K Apni Party chief Syed Altaf Bukhari and other senior party leaders and activists were stopped by a strong contingent of police as they began marching towards the .
Former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president, in a post on ‘X’ said, “The gates of my house have been locked up yet again to prevent me from visiting - an enduring symbol of Kashmir’s resistance & resilience against authoritarianism, oppression & injustice”. She asserted, “The sacrifices of our martyrs is a testament that the spirit of Kashmiris cannot be crushed. Today even observing it in remembrance of the protesters martyred on this day has been criminalised”.
She added, “On 5th August 2019, J&K was dismembered, disempowered & stripped of everything that was sacrosanct for us. They intend to erase each one of our collective memories. But such assaults will only stren.