Jammu and Kashmir National Conference on Tuesday decried the restrictions on the civilian traffic on Qazigund-Nashri stretch, saying the measure is “regressive and will put the people to undue duress.” The party general secretary Haji Ali Muhammad Sagar while censuring the administration for the imprudent step said, “The incumbent administration is known for coming up with such unconsidered decisions. The move will inadvertently hit the movement of civilian traffic on the Jammu –Srinagar highway. He said the only national highway connecting Srinagar with the rest of country already suffers from intermittent blockages due to the vagaries of weather. “The other day the civilian traffic on the stretch was curbed for 5 hours. The diktat of putting restrictions on the vehicular movement if persists will put the public to undue duress. The step is bound to hamper the easy movement of tourist inflow to Kashmir. Moreover the diktat will affect the traders by spoiling Kashmir bound perishable items and vice versa,” he said.
Sagar while calling for an early revocation of the reckless diktat said, “The frequent restrictions on the sole national highway connecting Kashmir with the rest of the country on one pretext or the other causes unimaginable loses to the business community apart from severe inconvenience to the general public including patients and students.”
“No where in the world are people subjected to such bizarre diktats and deplorable treatment by the governments that claim to work for the betterment of common citizenry,” he said adding, “Restrictions like these on a route as is already troubled with blockages tantamount to strangulation of the economic activity in the valley.” Sagar said such moves are uncalled for and reflective of the aversion that the present administration has for the humane values. “I urge the administration to revoke the diktat of barring the civilian vehicles from plying on Qazigund-Nashri stretch from 10 am to 3 pm. Putting a whole lot of population to restrictions is analogous to disenfranchising them from their basic rights. Nowhere in the world are civilians treated like bound chattel. It does not behoove a working democracy like that of ours to come up with such “Tuglaqi Farmans” on and off”, he said.
