J&K Highway Ban: Mehbooba Mufti to approach court, Farooq Abdullah calls it 'dictatorship'
After a security measure undertaken by the Jammu and Kashmir’s government, wherein the movement of civilians between the Udhampur and Baramulla national highway was banned, regional parties of Kashmir have protested against it and called it ‘dictatorship.’
Former CM and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti has stated that she would be approaching the court against the order of the government and she also urged the civilians in the valley to defy the order over the ban on the movement of common man.
While making her point clear over the issue, Mufti said “If the Government of India thinks that by doing such things they can suppress the people of the state, they are wrong. We are defying this order and also filing a petition in court tomorrow. Kashmir belongs to Kashmiris, and for them to have to seek permission to use their own roads, I will not let this happen.”
Protested against Guv admins callous & absurd ban today. How can you restrict civilian movement on our main highway? You want to smother Kashmiris, change the demographics of the state & imprison them in their own land? Over my dead body. pic.twitter.com/y72LUVGhTY
— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) April 7, 2019
The highway ban is now turning into a humanitarian disaster. Flooded will calls from across the state. People in dire need to travel in order to tend to their day to day needs of survival stuck in a state of helplessness. @jandkgovernor urgently needs to scrap the inhuman order.
— Sajad Lone (@sajadlone) April 7, 2019
Meanwhile, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah was seen on streets protesting along with the civilians against the “arbitrary” order passed by the government and he raised a question, asking whether Kashmir was a ‘colony’.
Farooq said, “This is a wrong order, they need to take it back. It seems like an order of a dictatorship. They should use the train or travel at night if troops need to be moved.”
The order, which is being criticized by the local leadership, was passed by the Governor Satya Pal Malik on April 3, to make the movement of the paramilitary forces smooth and secure. It was in February when a convoy of CRPF personnel, moving along the Jammu and Kashmir Highway, was attacked by a suicide bomber in Pulwama district, and more than 40 CRPF soldiers lost their life.
People’s Conference supremo Sajad Lone took to Twitter and said, “The highway ban is now turning into a humanitarian disaster. Flooded [with] calls from across the state. People in dire need to travel in order to tend to their day to day needs of survival stuck in a state of helplessness. @jandkgovernor urgently needs to scrap the inhuman order.”
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First published: 8 April 2019, 10:48 IST