Maulana Azad Stadium has hosted home games for Jammu and Kashmir in domestic tournaments since 1966.[1] It has also hosted one One Day International in 1988 between India and New Zealand, which was abandoned due to rain without a ball being bowled.[3][4]
The ground is used for the Republic Day Parade in the state annually.[2] In 1995, three bomb blasts containing RDX were set off by remote control at the stadium during the parade resulting in eight deaths and fifty four injuries.[7] The blasts occurred when Governor GeneralK V Krishna Rao was on stage taking salute[2] with 30,000 people in attendance.[8] Rao himself narrowly escaped the blast.[9] In the year 2000, three solar-activated rockets programmed to hit Maulana Azad Stadium were found by the police a few days prior to the Republic Day Parade.[10] Since the bombing incident in 1995 the entire turf is dug up as part of a security preparations prior to the Republic Day Parade. In 2000, as part of one of these excavations, an ancient structure of brick and plastered lime was unearthed. A newspaper report claimed that the structure was related to water since a drain was found.[2] A lodging centre at the stadium has played host to pilgrims embarking on the Amarnath yatra, from where the yatra flags off.[11]