ISLAMABAD: Hurriyat leaders and civil society groups in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir have condemned the “forced and deliberate” closure of the Srinagar–Jammu highway, accusing the authorities of sabotaging the region’s horticulture industry and pushing apple growers to financial ruin.
According to Kashmir Media Service, in separate statements issued in Srinagar, the Jammu and Kashmir Young Men’s League (JKYML), Peoples League, Muslim Youth Forum, Jammu Kashmir Peoples Resistance Party, Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Movement, and others said the prolonged suspension of truck movement was “no accident” but part of a “deliberate strategy to cripple the Kashmiri economy.”
They pointed out that hundreds of trucks loaded with perishable fruit have been stranded for days, leading to massive losses during peak marketing season. The parties said the disruption has inflicted not only economic damage but also psychological distress on tens of thousands of families dependent on apple farming.
“The administration has abandoned growers and chosen silence while our fruit rots on the roadside,” the statements read, adding that the LG-led regime was “toeing New Delhi’s line” instead of safeguarding local interests.
The groups warned that unless the blockade was lifted immediately and consignments allowed to move without obstruction, Kashmir’s economy could face “irreversible damage.”
They demanded urgent compensation for growers and traders already suffering losses and called for international organizations to take notice of what they described as the “economic strangulation” of Kashmir.
The Srinagar–Jammu highway, the only all-weather road linking the Valley with the outside world, has remained repeatedly closed or partially open in recent weeks, with authorities citing “repair works” and “landslides.”
Growers and transporters, however, allege that the closures are a result of discrimination and deliberate mismanagement targeting the backbone of Kashmir’s economy.
