The Supreme Court on Monday asked the central as well as the Jammu and Kashmir government to respond to plea against the state government’s order restriting movement of civilian vehicles along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway on Sunday and Wednesday every week.
A bench comprising Chief Justice RanjanGogoi, Justice DeepakGupta and Justice Sanjiv Khanna issued the notice to Government of India andalso to the J&K government after hearing the petitioners.
Senior Vice President of the ‘Awami National Conference’Muzzafar Ahmad Shah and social worker Yasmeen Sonaullah have approached theapex court against the state government’s order—353-Home (ISA) of 2019 dated3-4-2019—that bars movement of civilian traffic on the National Highway from4am to 5pm on Sundays and Wednesdays, until May 31. The restrictions on Wednesdays have beenlifted on the Srinagar-Baramulla road. “Issue notice on the writ petition, asalso on the prayer for interim relief, returnable within two weeks,” the benchsaid.
Advocates Suhail Malik, Vikas Malik, RonakBaid, J N Singh,Neeraj Srivastava and Advocate On Record (AOR), Pranaya Kumar Mohapatraappeared for the petitioners, who have pleaded that the “absurd decision torestrict civilian traffic movement on 270-km-long stretch on the nationalhighway directly affects lives of lakhs of people while its indirect economicand social impact is interminable”.
The order under challenge (impugned order), they have pleaded, means “a virtual lockdown of the valley two days every week which will directly affect 10,000 vehicles plying every hour, which includes vehicles carrying patients, students, tourists, businessmen and government officials”. “Such an extreme step was not even adopted during the Kargil War in 1999,” they have pleaded.
While the petitioners have argued that the “illogical and vindictive order would render offices, schools, colleges, banks, airports and railway stations shut two days a week”, they have submitted that the restrictions “will have a direct impact on the general election of 2019”.
The prohibition on civilian traffic on the National Highwaywill have a disastrous impact on the tourism industry of the state and it is a”collective punishment” for the people of Kashmir, the petitioners havepleaded.
“Respondent number 1 (J&K government) is perhaps tryingto imply that the cause of insurgency and resultant loss of lives in Jammu andKashmir is owed to the presence of inhabitants in the state and not to,inter-alia, intelligence failure, unfenced borders, weak foreign policy,animosity with neighbouring countries (sic), political divergence againstmeaningful dialogue with stakeholders, obsolete counter-insurgency strategy andequipment (sic),” the petition reads.
Notably, the J&K High Court has also issued notices tothe Government of India and J&K government on a batch of petitions byformer IAS officer-turned-politician Shah Faesal, National Conference leaderAli Muhammad Sager, Peoples Democratic Party leader Naeem Akhter, Raja FaisalZahoor, ShafaqatNazir and ArifJavid Khan, challenging the National Highwayclosure. The court has sought response to the PIL by April 24.