Highway closure severs Valley from world, sparks food and medicine crisis
Fruit growers fear losses, urge opening of routes with Azad Kashmir
Srinagar: In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the continued closure of the Srinagar-Jammu highway for the sixth straight day has not only crippled the Valley’s economy but also plunged ordinary Kashmiris into a humanitarian crisis, with shortages of essential commodities including food, medicines, and children’s food.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the strategic highway, the only surface link connecting the Kashmir Valley with the outside world, has remained shut due to massive landslides triggered by incessant rainfall. The closure has virtually severed the Valley from the rest of the world, disrupting supplies and choking trade.
Adding to the misery, traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu highway once again came to a grinding halt on Saturday night after fresh landslide activity was reported near Bali Nallah, around 10 kilometers from Udhampur town. Eyewitnesses said debris from the hillside began sliding gradually toward the road around 4 pm, forcing police to immediately suspend vehicular movement and evacuate nearby shops and pedestrians. Residents of the affected area were also shifted to safer locations as a precautionary measure.
For the sixth consecutive day, normal traffic could not resume. Police have issued an advisory announcing a complete shutdown of traffic between Udhampur and Chenani to facilitate restoration work. Meanwhile, a separate landslide in the Kishtwari Pather area also disrupted traffic.
Fruit traders and growers are sounding alarm bells, warning that perishable produce worth millions is at risk of rotting away during the peak harvest season. Fayaz Ahmad Malik, President of the Fruit Mandi in Sopore, the Valley’s largest wholesale fruit market, said, “Three to four hundred trucks carrying pears and early-season apples are stranded. Delays will lead to catastrophic losses. Horticulture sustains lakhs of families, and the blockade has put their survival at stake.”
Reports from Sopore, Shopian, Pulwama, and other fruit-growing hubs reveal thousands of tons of Bagogosha pears, Red Ghala, and Galamast apples stranded or unharvested, while markets outside the Valley remain inaccessible.
The traders’ bodies stressed that beyond trade, the blockade has created an acute shortage of essential goods, including baby food and life-saving medicines, leaving people to suffer in silence. They urged the rulers to immediately open alternative routes through Azad Kashmir to restore supplies and prevent both humanitarian suffering and economic collapse.
Meanwhile, with highways, bridges, and road networks badly damaged across the territory, the already battered economy of the Valley is facing what locals call “a siege within a siege.”
