Srinagar-Jammu highway shut: Kashmir leaders highlight plight of fruit growers
Langate AIP MLA Sheikh Khursheed terms blockade “economic assault” on Valley, while Iltija Mufti calls on lieutenant governor, says crisis crippling apple industry.
The Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) on Tuesday held a protest at Press Colony, Srinagar, demanding the immediate clearance of fruit-laden trucks stranded on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway for a month, causing losses of hundreds of crores to growers in the Kashmir Valley.
PDP leader Iltija Mufti met Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha and discussed the highway disruption issue. “Party leader and Bijbehara constituency in-charge Iltija Mufti apprised Sinha of the crisis crippling J&K’s apple industry due to the closure of Srinagar-Jammu NH. He assured her that he would expedite smooth truck movement to prevent further losses,” the PDP posted on X.
For the second day, fruit wholesale markets across the Valley remained closed amid a shortage of trucks to transport their goods as hundreds of trucks are still in transit on the highway. The trucks are stranded near Tharad in Udhampur district after a massive landslide during the recent rains. The traffic department has allowed only light motor vehicles to ply on the route even after three weeks of the incdent.
AIP activists, led by Langate MLA Sheikh Khursheed, raised slogans of “Save apple, save Kashmir” and accused the administration of deliberately choking the Valley’s horticulture economy. Protesters carried placards drawing attention to the rotting fruit stuck in trucks en route from Kashmir and the financial losses being faced by orchardists.
Khursheed said the blockade was nothing short of an “economic assault” on Kashmir. “Lakhs of families depend on horticulture for survival. By keeping apple consignments stranded for days on the highway, the administration is silently crushing Kashmir’s economy. Empty promises won’t save our growers, only immediate action will,” he said.
The protest was disrupted by the police, who detained several leaders of the party, including Khursheed, PAC chairman Ishtiyaq Qadri, party spokesperson Firdouse Baba besides leaders Ajaz Ahmad Lone and Naseer Rather, district development council member Khursheed Ahmad Dar, north Kashmir spokesperson Shahnawaz Mir, former BDC chairmen Showkat Ahmad Pandit and Bashir Ahmad.
AIP chief spokesperson Inam Un Nabi condemned the arrest of the party leaders, terming it an attempt to silence the voice of Kashmir’s growers. “Instead of ensuring free passage for apple trucks, the government is busy jailing those who speak up for the people. Saving the apple crop means saving the backbone of Kashmir’s livelihood and no amount of repression will stop us from defending it,” he said.
