Kashmir highway closure takes heavy toll on vendors, customers

SRINAGAR: The ban on the movement of civilian traffic on Jammu-Srinagar highway, in occupied Kashmir, has started to take its toll on livelihood of vendors as well as customers who are connected to the weekly market, Lal Chowk, in Srinagar.

Kashmir Media Service (KMS) reported the ban was also hitting trade at Makka Market, Goni Khan Market and Hari Singh High Street in the city. Vendors say that customer footfall has dwindled since the highway ban started.

“As the authorities locked down the highway, people living in areas other than Srinagar city are not able to reach the Sunday market and different adjoining markets. It has caused a sharp decline in sales,” told a vendor to KMS.

Nearly 2,000 families are dependent on the weekly Sunday market in Srinagar. Some vendors said they operate only once a week and all their business is centred on the Sunday market. They said the ban on civilian traffic on Sunday has stopped a significant customer flow that came from areas of south and north Kashmir.

Patient dies on Kashmir highway 

A cancer patient whose ambulance was denied permission by the Indian troops to move on Srinagar-Jammu highway during the movement of Central Reserve Police Force’s convoy died on the road, Kashmir Media Service reported.

The video of the incident surfaced on social media in which the CRPF man is seen stopping the ambulance while signaling the forces’ vehicles, coming from opposite direction to move.

One of the men in the ambulance pleaded the CRPF man to allow them move forward. However, the CRPF man denied the permission.