NC mulling a memorial for its ‘4,000 martyrs’ in Srinagar

MP Aga Ruhullah says his party should have commemorated its terror victims ‘in a better way’

SRINAGAR: For the first time since the outbreak of an unceasing armed insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, the ruling National Conference is considering raising a memorial for “over 4,000 of its workers and leaders” killed in terror attacks in the last 35 years.
Well-placed political sources revealed to The News Now that the NC leadership had finally realised the need and importance of glorifying the sacrifices of its cadres for the Indian nation. The memorial, according to sources, would be an answer to the BJP’s criticism which has often labelled the NC as a “pro-terrorist and pro-Pakistan” party.
“Yes, we owe something big to over 4,000 of our workers and leaders who have been done to death only for holding the red colour flag against the green colour flag and only for upholding and strengthening J&K’s accession to India”, said a senior NC leader and former Minister. “This is our unparallelled distinction among all political parties. Which party has given more sacrifices of life for India than our party? Who of the BJP has been killed by terrorists?”
According to the NC leadership, the martyrs’ memorial would neutralise BJP’s criticism of the party. “Every now and then they (BJP leaders) label us as pro-Pakistan and pro-terrorists. We alone are the biggest victims of terrorism in Kashmir as 4,000 to 5,000 of our cadres, including Ministers, MLAs and MLCs, have been shot dead or killed in grenade or IED blasts by the terrorists”, said the senior NC leader.
NC’s Lok Sabha member from Central Kashmir, former Minister and three-time MLA, Aga Syed Ruhullah, admitted to this journalist in an exclusive interview that his party should have memorialised the martyrs “in a better way”. He admitted that the NC should have created a grand memorial for its martyrs and terror victims in Srinagar.
Even after gaining power for three terms after 1990, the NC did not create an appropriate memorial for the workers and leaders who were killed by militants simply for their association with India. The party has, however, established an archive of the portraits of its slain leaders inside a hall at its Nawa-e-Subah headquarters.
Aga Ruhullah is among the NC leaders whose parents, siblings or other family members were killed by the separatist militants. His father Aga Syed Mehdi was killed along with three of his personal security guards and the driver when terrorists in ambush blew up his Police vehicle with an IED blast at Mazhama, on Srinagar-Gulmarg Road, on 3 November 2000.
Others of the NC killed in similar terror attacks include MLAs Sheikh Mansoor, Pir Mohammad Shafi, Mohammad Subhan Bhat, two of his sons, Ghulam Qadir Neelora, his son Nazir Ahmad Neelora, Ghulam Nabi Dar, Abdul Ahad Wani aka Kar, ex-Speaker Wali Mohammad Itoo, besides Ministers Ghulam Hassan Bhat and Mushtaq Ahmad Lone. Sheikh Mohammad Sadiq, one of the NC President Farooq Abdullah’s close relatives, who was a prominent handicraft merchant, was also shot dead by militants in Srinagar.
In fact the first political killing upon the outbreak of the separatist insurgency in Kashmir was that of the NC leader Mohammad Yousuf Halwai who was shot dead in downtown Srinagar, allegedly for defying the militants’ call for a blackout on the Indian Independence of 15 August 1989.
Aga Ruhullah, in his interview, mentioned one of the NC leaders who was blown into pieces in Srinagar uptown after he was kidnapped and the militants tied grenades to his body. Ruhullah emphasised that his party should create a grand memorial for such martyrs who had given sacrifice of life for the NC’s political ideology and philosophy of secular democratic republic within the framework of the Indian constitution.
Ruhullah made clear that the NC had never endorsed Kashmir’s separation from India or accession to Pakistan. “We have been struggling for over 70 years for the status which was based on our constitutional guarantees”, he asserted.

Updated On 11/13/2024 12:07:21 AM