I took this open platform to reach maximum people for conveying my suggestion with hope inside that we will get together to put this bad custom at bay. People usually block busy roads for their own conveniences. People also block roads to during protests against the government over some pubic demands and when asked why they do so, their response comes like this “we have some genuine demands, and we want solution from concerned authorities”.
As people block roads for their demands or needs, they make others suffer for
hours, and at the same time, they claim to be the modest people of 21st century, it sounds illogical because their actions lead hundreds and thousands to suffer. It is not a good sign of modesty. We should have a sense of self-belongingness towards our own society.
Most of the times travelers, especially office-goers, students and many other
people who have to reach their destinations in time, get stuck in traffic jams after people take to roads to protest against the government. No doubt, people have a right to protest and assemble without arms as it is a constitutional right granted to citizens in Article 19(1) (b), but roads are not be blocker under the garb of this constitutional right as precious time of hundred of people is lost .
It is time to change the way of demanding and protesting. It is our responsibility to mark the end this inconvenient way of protests on roads and as such we need to change our mindsets.
My suggestion to people facing any kind of inconvenience in form of non availability of drinking water, outage of electricity or any other issue is that they must go and hold a demonstration or peaceful protest outside the highest office of the concerned department in their concerned area. Their demands and grievance will not only get immediate response but also officials facing them will remain more cautious towards the pressing public issues in their areas. It will further save time and redress problems swiftly. Coming on roads sometimes costs a lot, ambulances and other emergency squads do not have time to wait. It is time to change the way of demanding and protesting. It is our responsibility to mark the end this inconvenient way of protests on roads and as such we need to change our mindsets.
By blocking roads, people go against their own conscience also as good human values are opposed to the idea of road blockades. We are Muslims when we cannot change our way of doings, then we are muslims for name sake only. Let us understand this Hadith reported by Abu Barza: I said, “O Prophet of Allah, teach me something that will benefit me.” The Prophet, (peace, and blessings be upon him), said, “Remove harmful things from the roads of the Muslims” [Sahih Muslim hadith no. 2618]. This Hadith is clearly indicating that we are bound to keep roads free from barriers.
(Author is pursing Diploma in Mechanical engineering and is Executive Member of All J&K Students Union [AJKSU]. He can be reached at [email protected])
