The Jammu and Kashmir government’s "Naya Kashmir" narrative on Thursday ran into a fresh reality check after it confined several pro-India leaders, including Mehbooba Mufti, to their homes and denied escort to others to prevent them from paying homage to the martyrs of 1931.

The "Naya Kashmir" narrative claims that the Valley has finally found peace and normality, and residents are enjoying the change.

July 13 was a public holiday in the erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state to commemorate the killings of 22 Kashmiris protesting against the oppression of the Dogra rulers 92 years ago.

The Jammu and Kashmir Union territory administration has not only cancelled the holiday but announced a public holiday on the birth anniversary of the last Dogra autocrat, Maharaja Hari Singh, who had been accused of ordering the killings.

Since 2019, no function has been allowed at the graveyard where political leaders used to go to pay homage to the martyrs.

Mehbooba, a former chief minister, and her party posted videos on social media, showing her struggling at the gates of her home on the outskirts of Srinagar. The gates were apparently locked from outside to prevent them from reaching the graveyard in the old city.

Omar Abdullah, another former chief minister, and his party colleagues, including Anantnag MP Hasnain Masoodi, walked around 1km from his home to the Nawai Subah party office in the heart of Srinagar to address a gathering invited to pay homage to the martyrs.

The police allegedly denied them escort vehicles to reach the venue although the leaders face threats from militants.

The high drama unfolded a few days after the Centre filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, defending the scrapping of special status and saying that it had helped restore normality.

Facing the fresh restrictions even four years after the special status was scrapped, Valley politicians asked where the normality was.

Omar tweeted a video clip of his walk. “Dear @JmuKmrPolice, don’t think that refusing to give me my escort vehicles & ITBP cover willstop me. I’ll walk to where I have to get to & that’s exactly what I’m doing now,” Omar wrote.

Omar was trolled by pro-government handles who asked what bigger proof of normality he needed when he could walk to his office without security.

The former chief minister said they could be right if Lt Governor Manoj Sinha would travel without having to halt the civilian traffic every time he moved.

“I will accept the situation is normal when our lieutenant governor does not have tostop (civilian) traffic while he travels from the Raj Bhawan to the airport. Today, the situation is such that you are stopped 10 to 15 minutes in advance to allow the lieutenant governor’s cavalcade,” he told reporters.

“The traffic is stopped even for the LG’s vehicles when he is not travelling. Does this look normal?” Omar asked.

In his speech, Omar referred to the religion (Islam) of the July 13 martyrs and said if they belonged to any other religion, the LG’s government would have paid homage to them.

Asked to explain later, he said BJP’s “reality” forced him do so. “This is the reality. It took me time to understand (the BJP’s reality). I have also understood their reality,” he said.

Mehbooba said she was put under house arrest to prevent her from paying respects to the martyrs.