Every year, July 13 was commemorated as Martyrs’ Day in Jammu and Kashmir with an official holiday till 2019 to establish a narrative that is questionable when one looks at the historical facts.

This year also this narrative was tried to be revived by the state government under the leadership of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. Some other local political parties also support this narrative.

Keeping aside the political controversy, it is important to look at the developments around July 13, 1931, and decipher whether it was a ‘Martyr’s Day’ or was it a ‘black day’ for Hindus of Jammu-Kashmir.

Even the hagiography of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, the grandfather of the sitting Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, couldn’t hide the fact that on July 13, the Muslim mobs took law in their own hands leaving no other option for the security forces but to fire upon them to prevent chaos, anarchy and bloodshed.

RN Kaul mentioned in “Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah: A political Phoenix", clearly a hagiography, that in 1931 Abdul Qadir, a Muslim butler to a British officer, was arrested for sedition and was put into jail by the state administration. A huge Muslim mob gathered outside the prison on July 13, 1931.

The state forces fired on the mob following which this mob turned in huge processions from the jail looting and burning Hindu shops and also killing some of them. Sheikh Abdullah made his debut as an orator on this occasion when he declared ‘Jihad,’ writes Kaul.

Qadir was a non-Kashmiri Muslim, and he was sowing the seeds of insurgency in........

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