Restrictions for Amarnath & Kanvar yatras’ are incomparable

Disputing the undeniable fact that massive traffic restriction on Kashmir highway twice in less than six months in the mid tourist season is by all standards of understandabilities an indefensible defence, the Governor Satya Pal Malk in an attempt to defend the restrictions on Kashmir highway has said that while there is a lot of hue and cry over the two hour traffic restrictions a day on Kashmir highway for Amarnath Yatra in Kashmir valley , there is no hue and cry over similar traffic restrictions on Delhi-Haridwar road in Western Utter Pradesh for Kanvar Yatra. While trying to draw parallels between the traffic restrictions on Kashmir highway for Amarnath Yatra and Delhi-Haridwar highway for Kanvar Yatra ,the Governor Satya Pal Malik as a resident of Utter Pradesh should have also admitted the fact that while the traffic on Delhi-Haridwar highway is not disallowed but diverted to alternate routes for Kanvar Yatra, the traffic on Kashmir highway has been disallowed in absence of any alternate route for the civilian traffic from Jammu to Srinagar resulting in the suspension of trade and tourist activities across Kashmir.
The sufferings inflicted on the people in both Kashmir and Jammu regions has forced even the leaders of Jammu Chamber of Commerce & Industry (JCC&I) to convene an urgent press conference in Jammu to demand immediate withdrawal of traffic restrictions on Kashmir highway keeping in view the heavy losses the traders in both the regions are facing by the suspension of trading activities. Knowing that the closure of highway also disrupts the functioning of schools, movement of tourists and supply of essentials in Kashmir valley the governor could not compare the traffic restrictions on Delhi-Haridwar highway from where the civilian and commercial traffic is diverted to other routes with the suspension of civilian traffic on Kashmir highway. Keeping in view the vulnerability of the Kashmir’s only road link with the outside world and the countless miseries and pain inflicted on the people of ill-fated Kashmir valley during chilly months of winter when prices of essentials soar, shortage of stock triggers frustration among masses and the black-marketing of essentials touches all time high, the governor’s administration instead of defending the suspension of civilian traffic on Kashmir highway should lift the restrictions on civilian traffic immediately in the larger public interest as the undeniable fact is that never ever in last seventy years the government had suspended civilian traffic either for the security of the army and paramilitaries or for the security and safety of amarnath yatris and the traffic on this highway was not banned even during the three wars fought between India and Pakistan and limited war in Kargil .