Srinagar: The Jammu-Kashmir highway was not closed even during the Kargil war when intelligence reports suggested suicide attackers were at large, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah said on Thursday, a day after the government decided to block the road lifeline for two days a week.
"What is happening for god's sake. Are you trying to make Kashmir a colony of the British?" an anguished Abdullah asked and termed the Governor Satya Pal Malik led administration's decision interference with a citizen's fundamental rights.
According to the order issued on Wednesday by state Home Secretary Shaleen Kabra, no civilian traffic will be allowed to move from Baramulla in north Kashmir to Udhampur in Jammu region on Sundays and Wednesdays till May 31.
The restrictions on civilian traffic on the 271-km highway will remain in force from 4 am to 5 pm, said the order, which follows the suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama. The highway passes through important towns such as Anantnag, Awantipora, Pampore, Srinagar, Pattan and Baramulla.
"The fundamental rights of people are being tampered with," Abdullah told PTI.
Such a decision flies in the face of the BJP-led Central government's assertion that the security situation in the state had improved, he said.
"We brought the state from the 1989 turmoil to 2014 when tourism was booming the state and separatists had become redundant. Look where we are now?" asked the National Conference patron, who is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Srinagar.
"We have never seen such a situation. Even during Kargil war when intelligence reports suggested suicide attackers were roaming, such a decision was never taken," he added.
Those who had passed such orders were acting as a rubber stamp for Delhi and only worsening the life of the people in the state, Abdullah alleged.
"The national highway is the lifeline of people. Patients pass (through the highway), marriages take place, tourists come... Those passing such orders must have surrendered their ability to think before acting," he said.
The decision to block the highway for two days has been taken to facilitate the unhindered movement of security forces' convoys to eliminate the possibility of fidayeen terror attacks during the ongoing poll process, the notification said.
In case of an emergency requiring the passage of a civilian vehicle, police and administrative officials will take appropriate decisions in line with the provisions for movement of civilian traffic during curfews, it added.
Officials said the notification took the state police by surprise and, till the last, it was being argued that the decision would not be beneficial for the state.
During his visit to Kashmir after the Pulwama terror attack that left 40 security personnel dead, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced that no civilian traffic would be allowed during the movement of paramilitary forces.
The JKPCC and CPI(M) also demanded immediate revocation of the order banning movement of civilian traffic on the Jammu-Kashmir highway for two days a week, saying the move would "add to the miseries" of people.
Senior CPI(M) leader and former MLA M Y Tarigami too asked the government to offer alternatives before imposing the ban.
"The decision must be a security issue, but why should a common man be put to avoidable hardships for whom all this security bandobast is meant?" Tarigami questioned.
In a statement issued here, the CPI(M) leader said, "What will be the fate of those patients, who have to be brought from the other districts of the Valley and need immediate treatment in hospitals in Srinagar? What kind of logic is this? A patient can't wait till a pass is issued, as in some cases it can prove disastrous and life threatening."
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