Srinagar police face questions over extensive evening vehicle barricading and frisking

Srinagar: The ruling National Conference Lok Sabha member Aga Ruhullah Mehdi on Friday asked Jammu and Kashmir police to explain the barricading and frisking of every vehicle at multiple barricades across the Srinagar city in the evening hours.

Over the past few days the police and paramilitary forces erect multiple barricades across the Srinagar city every evening ensuring the scrutiny of all the vehicles passing from the area.

The police has not issued any formal statement over the increased frisking at multiple checkpoints.


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"Would J&K police care to explain why it has placed barriers almost every few kilometres during evening hours on Srinagar city roads checking every single vehicle since last many days, which results into long traffic jams and inconvenience to the people in addition to the humiliation?" said Mehdi in a post on X. He further asked "Is there any explainable reason for this or it is just another way to harass people?"

Locals have also complained about the multiple checkpoints in the evening stating that a journey of few kilometres takes them hours to complete especially during the rush evening hours.

"It took me around three hours on Wednesday evening in a cab to travel from City centre Lal Chowk to Lal Bazar which is a distance of over 10 kms. Usually it takes around 50 minutes during rush hours. We were stopped at a minimum of five barricades on way," said a commuter who requested to remain anonymous.