13t11 July, 1931 On the day, the trial of Maulana Abdul Qadir Ghazi was to be held in the Srinagar Jail premises, all the extra preparations had been made by the authorities. The Deputy Inspector of Police came to the sight with a Police force of 44 Policemen, 5 Head Constables, 2 Sub-Inspectors and one Inspector.
Besides this the Jail forces consisted of 19 men “with 25 rifles, which are muzzle loaders, very old; they cannot fire and are worse than lathies.
The 22 Policemen were armed with rifles and the rest had clubs. In all 22 armed Policemen 119 Policemen with dandas, 5 Head Constables, 2 Inspectors and one Sub-Inspector were within the control of the Deputy Inspector General of Police. All the Inspectors had revolvers.
ย The description of the site had been given as under “The Jail has a compound with high walls. There is a wooden gate at the Jail to enter the compound. On the other side of the Jail to the south of the compound, there is walled ground, which also had a door more or less opposite, though not exactly opposite to the wooden gate of the Jail. At the south west corner of the Jail there are Police Lines for the use of the Jail Police. There is an iron gate to the Jail building. This gate is about 50 yards from the wooden gate and a path leads directly from the wooden gate to the iron gate”
Before the arrival of the Session Judge, a large mob of the Muslims had gathered on the road leading to the Jail compound. When the Judge came by car the mob shouted :
“Abdul Qadeer !
“Our brother from Raibareli !
“Release Abdul Qadeer !
“Our brother of Rawalpindi !
“We will go to jail !
“Imprison us instead !
The Jailor told the Judge that the people wanted to have a deedar (a look at the face) of the Ghazi The people had waited from morning until 2 P.M. but the Judge had not started his work nor the prisoner was brought out of the Jail. Theย people got excited and gave slogans. The Sessions Judge wanted to mob to disperse but they requested permission to offer prayers. One amongst them, Khawaja Abdul Khaliq Shora recited Azan or the call to the prayers. During this time the Police caught hold of 5 persons and arrested them. At the time of arrests, they shouted “why are these man arrested”. At that very movement firing started. Khawaja Abdul Khaliq Shora was the first man to die. He was standing, when he was hit by a Police man.72 The people gave slogans of Allalz-o-Akbar and started pelting. Before the firing, the Governor was in touch with the Maharaja through telephone :
“Before the firing I sent information to the Palace where His Highness was in residence, Captain Faqir Singh A.D.C. came to the phone and I informed him. After the mob was pushed away from Jail Police Lines, I again phoned the situation to the Palace. The second time I phone to the Palace, the State Secretary Thakar Kartar Singh Ji spoke to me on phone”.
The above would clearly reveal that all this show of arms was pre-arranged and the Maharaja and his Dogra advisors wanted to teach a lesson to the Muslims by shooting them. They felt that they could create awe and terror in the minds of the Kashmiris but later events proved to the contrary.
The first Kashmiri to receive the bullet was Khawaja Abdul Khaliq Shora and the first agitator to be arrested on the 13th of July, 193 1 at the Central Jail was Khawaja Mohammad Yalhya Rafiqeย
The Military took over the city and started indiscriminate firings. At Nawabazar 3 persons were killed or wounded without any cause. There was no provocation the part of crowd .The Military also looted houses of the well-to- do Muslims in the city. At the same time whose houses were looted, were arrested and there remained no body to make any complaint to any body.
Before the Enquiry Commission, the Police authorities admitted that they had used 180 rounds of ammunition and had arrested 32 persons in this connection. For the first time in centuries, the Kashmiris sought to throw off the old yoke of oppression. They were owed down by the bullets of the Dogra troop in their uprising but refused to turn back and received these bullets on their bare chestsย
REFERENCES: R.L. Handa,ย
Bazaz, P.N.,ย
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