AUTHORITIES in India’s portion of disputed Kashmir yesterday began enforcing a ban on the movement of civilian vehicles on a key highway to keep it open exclusively for military and paramilitary convoys two days a week. Soldiers patrolled the highway and erected barricades by steel and razor wire at intersections with neighborhood roads. India’s government issued the order this past week, reserving the 270-kilometer stretch of the highway for the movement of government forces vehicles Sundays and Wednesdays until the end of May. The order follows the Feb. 14 suicide bombing of a paramilitary convoy that killed 40 soldiers and brought rivals India and Pakistan to the brink of war. Civilian traffic was already being disallowed along the highway during the movement of troops’ convoys after the attack. The order said the ban was called to prevent any attacks by anti-India rebels “keeping in view the large movement of security forces on the national highway” during India’s multi-phase general election, which begins Thursday. The highway is the only one connecting the restive Kashmir Valley in the Himalayas to the Indian plains. Authorities said patients, students, government employees and the needy would be allowed to travel on the highway after security verification. (SD-Agencies) |