Ban on traffic movement on Kashmir highway tantamount to snatching civil liberties: Hakeem

Srinagar: Former Revenue Minister and Chairman PDF, Hakeem Yaseen on Thursday ridiculed Government for imposing ban on movement of vehicular movement on National Highway adding that the order was arbitrary and anti-people.
In a statement to KNS, Hakeem Yaseen has said that the arbitrary order banning civilian traffic on Srinagar-Jammu highway for two days a week was unwise. He said that prohibiting movement of civilian traffic on National Highway on security grounds shows that tall claims of Government about improvement in the ground situation in Kashmir were totally baseless. He said such an anti people step was not seen even in 1990 when the security situation was out of control of the government machinery and security forces.
Hakeem Yaseen has said that confining people for two days indoors without any reason was an unwise and foolish step which shows short-sightedness of the concerned officers at the helm of affairs.
Forcefully demanding revocation of the ban order on traffic movement on Jammu-Srinagar NH, Hakeem Yaseen said that this order would put the masses to hardships particularly employees and students. “Besides, it will badly effect business and trade activities in the state,” Hakeem Yaseen added. “This ban has created suspicion among the people that the Governor administration and security forces are deliberately making common people victim of their own failures. He said elections and movement of convoys has been there since last 70 but there were no such arbitrary curbs on the movement of common people which will adversely affect civil liberties.