As per the available reports the UT administration is very keen for early opening of Mughal Road for the obvious reasons since the NH 44 has been suspect to frequent closures this year disrupting not only the routine movement but also the movement of essential supplies and stores. Mughal Road not only provides the alternative axis to Kashmir, it also helps the administration to stock the necessary rations and stores in the far flung areas to cater for the contingencies that arise due to road closure in winters. But it has a flip side as well. “In the previous years, the road has also been notorious for comparatively free and easy movement of drugs, terrorists, arms, ammunition, saboteurs and propagandists including Hurriyat activists. It becomes feasible due to less strict and stringent check and control measures on this axis in comparison to NH 44,” stated Brig Anil Gupta, Spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party.
Brig Gupta further said that while other things remain same, a new dimension has been added this year in form of the corona pandemic. While all the ten districts in Kashmir have been hit by the pandemic and the region has 79 out of the total 93 designated hotspots in the UT, the neighbouring districts of Poonch and Rajouri in Jammu region are comparatively disease free so far. The recent case reported in Rajouri is also an imported case from Kashmir brought in by a labourer who trekked across the PirPanjal to reach his home in Thana Mandi, stated Brig Gupta. Exhaustive and highly secure and strict measures will have to be put in place on both sides of the Road to ensure that the disease is not carried from one region to another. Brig Gupta recommended to the administration to replicate “Lakhanpur Model” at both the ends and ensure proper placement of adequate infrastructure, formulation and promulgation of strict SOPs before the Road is cleared for routine traffic and opened to public.
In any case, as long as the restriction on move of inter district and inter province movement remains in place, the orders need to be followed in letter and spirit with only authorised exemptions permitted. Even after that the road should primarily be used for goods traffic with proper check and balances, asserted Brig Gupta. The administration will also have to formulate a fresh SOP for the movement of Gujjars and Bakkerwals to their Dhoks and ensure that no movement takes place across the PirPanjal till the entire Kashmir region is declared Corona free, asserted Brig Gupta.
In order to prevent its misuse by terrorists and anti-national elements, Brig Gupta recommended that minimum two Company Operating Bases (COB) of the Army must be deployed on the Mughal Road in addition to the fortified Nakas of JKP with surveillance equipment, CCTV cameras, scanners and QRTs. A pro-active approach will not only deter the terrorists and ANEs but will also help the administration to ensure crowd control, which is very essential to prevent the spread of corona.