Shopian: It has been ten months that the Mughal Road has been closed for civilian traffic, though vehicles carrying fruit are being allowed since some weeks.
On Saturday, two grooms along with other guests were stopped by the army at Pir ki Gali area on the road. They were going to Rajouri for their marriage. Family members of one of them, a Gujjar family that is currently living in Shopian, said that they were asked to get a “lockdown movement pass” from the Rajouri administration.
“We had a pass from the district authorities of Shopian to visit Rajouri for the marriage but we were not allowed to go. The groom was forced to walk up the hills as his in-laws later sent a vehicle to pick him up,” said Rafiq Ahmad, a relative of the groom.
Deputy Commissioner Shopian Choudhary Muhammad Yasin informed that the families had been given permission for only five people to accompany each groom, but they had taken two buses full of guests.
The 84-kilometer-long Mughal Road was closed in November last year after the region witnessed early and heavy snowfall. The road usually remains closed for five months because of heavy snowfall and apprehension of avalanches, especially in a 20-kilometer stretch.
While the snow clearance process was concluded by the beginning of May this year, civilian traffic was not allowed by the authorities due to unknown reasons.
Locals who want to visit their relatives, or travel for work and other purposes, said that all roads in Kashmir except this one were thrown open for traffic.
“We want to contact traders in Rajouri, Poonch and other areas as the apple and pear harvesting season is here. A large chunk of the B and C grade apple was being sold in the region,” said Javid Ahmad, a Shopian-based trader.
Locals and fruit growers in south Kashmir hire 30 percent of the labour for apple picking and other orchard work from the Pir Panjal region. This year, since the lockdown was imposed in March, only a handful of them managed to reach Kashmir.
“The Biharis and Bengalis didn’t come this year due to the lockdown. The few who managed to reach were forced to go back. Similar is the case with labourers from Rajouri,” said Tariq Ahmad Mir, a resident of Alyalpora Shopian.
Mir added that lack of labourers will affect the apple picking and packing this year if the government does not allow labourers from Rajouri and Poonch to come to Kashmir.
Since the historic Mughal Road was opened by the government in 2010, many people from the two regions it joins had inter-married. Many people thus have relatives in the other region but this year they have had to take the long route via Banihal and Jammu to meet them.
“My cousin was married in Rajouri last year but since the wedding we have not visited them. First there was the shutdown post August 5, then the snow, and now the bar on civilian traffic,” Mir said.
A senior official from Shopian district administration said that not allowing civilian traffic on Mughal Road is a decision taken by higher-ups and the district administration has no say in it. “This issue has been raised by many people but honestly it isn’t in my hands,” the official said.

Raashid Hassan