Former Army chief Ved Prakash Malik took to Twitter on Wednesday, 10 April, to denounce the two-days-a-week closure of the Jammu-Srinagar Kashmir highway, calling it a “dumb idea”.
General Malik (retired), who was the Army chief from 1997 to 2000 (during which the Kargil War also took place), listed three reasons for denouncing the move:
On 8 April, the ex-Army chief had appreciated the greater emphasis on national security in the BJP election manifesto, but added that some other aspects “could have been included.”
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah endorsed the former Army chief’s statement and said, “Alas decisions in J&K today are being drive more by ego than by logic & it is vanity that is stopping this order from being withdrawn [sic].”
Omar also sat on a dharna on the national highway in Nowgam on the outskirts of Srinagar protest against the ban on civilian traffic on the highway.
Peoples Democratic Party Chief Mehbooba Mufti also protested against the ban, and reiterated her call to call off the restricted movement for civilians.
The two-days-per-week ban on movement of civilian vehicles on Jammu-Srinagar-Baramulla national highway for facilitating the safe passage of security convoys, came into effect on 7 April, in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
Army, police and CRPF personnel were deployed at all intersections leading to the highway to ensure that civilian traffic does not interfere with movement of convoys of security forces, officials said, reported PTI.
The ban on civilian traffic on Sundays and Wednesdays will be in force till 31 May.
The ban was imposed in view of large number of security personnel being moved around for election duty in the state.
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