Srinagar, April 09 (KNO) : Congress leader Kadfeen Choudhary on Tuesday cautioned the government over remaining adamant on Highway ban in spite of the immense hardships being faced by the locals and people from business fraternity due to such a diktat.
Kadfeen in a statement issued to KNO said it is ironic how the government instead of normalizing the situation is employing every measure to choke the pacification efforts, if any, on ground.
He added that the highway gag gives an impression that Kashmir valley has been virtually converted into a militarised colony with civilians in possession of no rights to travel on the highway which is otherwise built and maintained on their own taxes.
Kadfeen added that there are already large scale apprehensions that the ban will put the business fraternity of Kashmir in dire straits. According to the Congress leader, the business community of Kashmir is yet to come out of the losses it had to incur due to the catastrophic floods of 2014, intensified political logjam for six months in 2016 and now this gag order will leave the fraternity in absolute state of helplessness.
He said that such an iron fist and macho approach being exhibited by the government instead of resolving the crises will further turn the situation worrisome, chaotic and difficult to control later.
According to the Congress leader, the government instead of imposing a blanket ban on civilian traffic on the national highway could have regulated the flow with saner and holistic approach. “However, this government relies on the policy of muscular approach. It wants to show its tough face and wants to give a false impression that it has a zero tolerance policy. It is high time that the ban is rolled back and people are instilled with enough confidence that their rights haven’t been seized,” said Kadfeen.(KNO)