30/11/2025
Roads Blocked, Mindset Exposed
Analytical Column: ASN
The greatest tragedy of our politics and society is that everyone takes to the streets for their own rights, yet no one ever sees the suffering of others. The road blockade from Kohala to Bakot appears, on the surface, to be a reaction to a few demands — but in reality, it reflects a deeper pattern of thinking: a mindset that values the display of its own power more than the state system itself.
Protest is every citizen’s right, but there is a thin line between exercising a right and sheer stubbornness. The practice of blocking roads has now become a weapon that always targets ordinary people — those who have no media, no platform, and no voice. They are simply travelers, patients, women, and children for whom even a few hours' delay is nothing less than agony.
But the question is not just why a road was blocked. The real question is: why is this becoming a norm?
Has this truly become the only way to solve public issues — by holding the state hostage until it yields?
Or is this a new form of anti-state behavior cleverly disguised as “public demands”?
Another bitter memory resurfaces here:
The stopping of Azad Kashmir vehicles in Murree, the harassment, the physical assaults, the intimidation of families, and attempts to force Kashmiris out of their businesses — these incidents were not merely local bias. They were symbols of a dangerous mindset — the mindset that believes the “other” is always weak and that dominance can be proven by pushing them aside.
Today, when certain groups in Bakot and Murree are blocking roads in the name of their demands, the question is not whether their demands are legitimate or not.
The real question is:
Are the same attitudes, the same narrow-mindedness, and the same power play once again being sold to us under the banner of public rights?
If the protests in Azad Kashmir were stripped of context and labeled “treason,” then why is no one ready to use the same labels today for those engaging in similar actions?
Or do our principles change depending on who is involved?
The role of the state here is the most critical. If the state tolerates road blockades in one place, the same example will be repeated elsewhere.
If the injustices in Murree are not addressed, the sit-ins in Bakot will strengthen the same dangerous mindset.
And if protests in Kashmir are suppressed, similar reactions will eventually emerge elsewhere.
The core issue is that we are suffering from a crisis of collective conscience.
We see our own suffering as “right” — and the suffering of others as “misbehavior.”
What is needed is a change in this mindset.
Protest cannot and should not be stopped — but protest must not be allowed to become a weapon of hostage-taking.
The state must establish one clear and non-negotiable principle:
No road will be blocked — regardless of whose demands they are.
Because when roads are blocked, travel does not truly stop…
It is civilization, tolerance, and social harmony that come to a halt.
And when these things stop, nations do not find destinations — they find disorder.
