SRINAGAR: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday trained guns at the J&K police for trying to stop him from reciting Fatiha (prayers) in the memory of 22 "martyrs" who were killed for protesting against Maharaja Hari Singh's rule.

"We are nobody's slaves," Abdullah asserted, adding that he must be informed under which law he was stopped from visiting the Mazar-e-Shuhada in Srinagar's Naqshband Sahib. The Jammu and Kashmir CM said that despite attempts to stop him, he was able to recite prayers.

"I want to know under which law I was stopped. Restrictions were imposed only yesterday. They say that this is a free country, but they think that we are their slaves. We are nobody's slaves. We are only the slaves of the people here. We foiled their attempts. They tried to tear our flag. But we came here and recited the Fatiha. They forget that these graves will always remain here. They stopped us on July 13, but for how long can they continue to do so? We will come here whenever we want and remember the martyrs," Abdullah told reporters here.

The CM claimed that everyone was put under "house arrest" and bunkers were installed outside his residence after he expressed the will to recite prayers at the Naqshband Sahib graveyard. He said that this is why he visited the "martyrs' graveyard" today without informing.

"It is unfortunate that, by the orders of those who claim their responsibility is to maintain law and order, we were not allowed to recite the Fatiha yesterday. Everyone was house arrested since the morning. When I told the control room that I wanted to come here to recite Fatiha, bunkers were installed outside my house within minutes. And they remained there till 12-1 AM. Today, I came here without informing them. Look at their shamelessness; they tried to stop us again today. These police personnel sometimes forget to follow the law," Abdullah said.

Abdullah jumped over the boundary wall of Mazar-e-Shuhada in Srinagar's Naqshband Sahib to offer prayers after allegedly being stopped by the security forces.

The development came a day after the Jammu and Kashmir Police sealed the Martyrs' cemetery and confined top political leaders, including Abdullah, inside their residences, barring them from visiting the Martyrs' Graveyard (Mazar-e-Shuhada), to mark the anniversary of the protesters shot dead by Maharaja Hari Singh's Dogra forces on July 13, 1931.

Abdullah said that he did not inform anyone before visiting the Mazar-e-Shuhada since he was house arrested yesterday on Kashmir Martyrs' Day.

"Paid my respects & offered Fatiha at the graves of the martyrs of 13th July 1931. The unelected government tried to block my way, forcing me to walk from Nawhatta Chowk. They blocked the gate to Naqshband Sb shrine, forcing me to scale a wall. They tried to physically grapple m,e but I was not going to be stopped today," Abdullah posted on X.

The graveyard is attached to the shrine of Khwaja Bahawuddin Naqshbandi.