Srinagar: Two former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah have slammed the Centre’s decision to curb civilian traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar highway to secure convoy movement.
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) President Mufti and National Conference chief Abdullah said on Thursday that the government had not applied its mind before issuing the closure order or bothered to think about the people of Kashmir.
The state government on Wednesday had announced that no civilian traffic will be allowed on the Jammu-Srinagar highway on Sundays and Wednesdays from 4 am to 5 pm to ensure the safety of the security convoys. The restrictions will remain in force till May 31.
Both former chief ministers were reacting to the order — a decision taken in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack on the same road.
Abdullah, too in a series of tweets slammed the diktat: “Has anyone in the administration applied their minds before planning to issue this highway closure order? “Jammu and Kashmir is not Chhattisgarh or Andhra Pradesh where there are alternate routes. Here if you close the national highway you shut down all access to the valley. This is a lifeline.” “I’ve made this suggestion before and in light of today’s highway closure order I feel the need to repeat it — why can’t the forces travel between Banihal and Baramulla by special trains? Quicker, safer and more comfortable for the security forces.”
Another former chief minister and Congress Rajya Sabha leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said the government “should work out a more people-friendly strategy than disallowing all civilian traffic for two days in a week”.
The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry has warned the state government that the decision would have disastrous consequences.
— IANS
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