Mehbooba demands installation of advanced system at airport

Ruling Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti today expressed dismay over disruption of air traffic at Srinagar airport due to poor visibility and demanded immediate installation of advanced Instrumentation Landing System (ILS) to ensure uninterrupted flight operations even during minimum visibility.
Flight operation at the airport has been suspended here for the last two days due to the fog, with hundreds of passengers, including tourists stranded here.
"Despite having been declared an international airport almost a decade back, the technical facilities at Srinagar aerodrome continue to be outdated impeding the air traffic to and from Kashmir, especially during the winters.

"The technical facilities including ILS needs to be upgraded immediately at the aerodrome to avoid any inconvenience to the passengers," Mehbooba, also a Member of Parliament from south Kashmir's Anantnag, said here.
As the traffic movement on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway and Mughal Road - an alternate road connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country - remains affected during bad weather conditions, the air traffic is the only mode available to the people to travel in and out of Kashmir.
"However, for the past few years we are witnessing frequent flight disruptions at the Srinagar Airport due to poor visibility although more than 30 flights are normally operating daily from there," she said.

The PDP president said she would also take up the matter with the Union Minister for Civil Aviation and Defence Ministry so that advanced ILS is put in place at the airport at the earliest.

Even as Rajnath Singh repeatedly tried to calm her by
tapping her, Mehbooba underscored that "Violent means have no place anywhere in the world" and "if you want to defame an issue, you resort to violence."
A reporter suggested that Mehbooba had changed her stance after coming to power since as an opposition leader during the 2010 agitation she had criticised the Omar Abdullah goverment for wanton arrests and caging of separatist leaders but was following the same tactics while in power.

The Chief Minister responded: "Your analysis is wrong. In 2010, there was a reason. There was a fake encounter in Macchil in which three civilians were killed. Then there were allegations of rape and murder (of twon women) in shopian. That means there was a reason for people's anger.
"This year an encounter took place as happens. Three militants were killed. What was the fault of the government?"
With regard to her earlier remarks about 95 per cent people of Kashmir not supporting the agitation, she said, "What I meant was that people want resolution of issues peacefully but 5 per cent people who resort to violence have hijacked the issue. They are used as shields by the miscreants to attack the security camps. They want poor young people to get killed and blinded.