In occupied Kashmir, enraged at the Srinagar-Jammu highway blockade and ransacking of fruit-laden trucks by the Hindu extremist groups of Jammu, valley's fruit growers have threatened to march towards Muzaffarabad if the puppet regime fails to provide security to their trucks.
The fruit growers took to the streets in Sopore and Srinagar to protest against the torching of vehicles at different places in Jammu and threatened to cross the Line of Control (LoC) and sell their fruits in Muzaffarabad, KMS reported.
The President of Sopore Fruit Growers Association, Bashir Ahmed Baig said that the fruit growers have unanimously decided to march towards Muzaffarabad with their fruit trucks if the authorities did not provide protection to the trucks plying on Srinagar-Jammu highway.
He maintained that the fruit growers are facing loss in millions of rupees due to the economic blockade. "The rightwing Hindus are intimidating truck drivers carrying apple boxes. Many of them have been thrashed mercilessly."
The president of Baramulla Fruit Growers Association, Ghulam Rasool Butt said that it seems that the regime has given up in front of Hindu communal groups in Jammu who have enforced economical blockade of valley on Israeli pattern. "We can not wait further. We will export our products to various Indian states via Muzaffarabad and Wagah border," he added.
Nazir Ahmed, a grower said that the valley's fruit growers have no alternative but to cross the LoC and sell their fruits in Muzaffarabad if the blockade continues. "We are loosing millions of rupees everyday as our fruit is rotting. Dozens of trucks are stranded on the highway," he said adding, "Police is in collusion with these elements in looting trucks."
New Kashmir Fruit Association (NKFA) and Trade Union Movement (TUM) in their separate statements have expressed concern over the situation in Jammu and criticised the puppet administration for failing to provide elaborate security to the trucks carrying goods for the Kashmir valley.