As Srinagar groaned under traffic curbs imposed on Wednesday for Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit, the Valley’s top industry body publicly contrasted the trip with that of a UPA predecessor, sending a subtle reminder how the situation had deteriorated.

Sheikh Gowhar Ali, joint secretary of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry, recalled how then home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had in 2012 “visited the city centre and interacted with people and shopped there”.

Governor Satya Pal Malik’s administration has shut the arterial Dalgate Nishat Road around Dal Lake to traffic for Shah’s two-day visit, beginning Wednesday, causing immense hardship to local residents and triggering snarls on several other roads.

While the Dalgate Nishat Road used to be sealed for VVIP visits earlier too, the restrictions had been eased for several years until the summer unrest of 2016 inflamed the situation.

Ali termed the current curbs an “unwarranted interference in the normal activities of the population”.

“The restrictions are a telling indicator of the situation prevailing in the Valley. It was only a few years ago in 2013 (actually 2012) when the then Union home minister (Shinde) visited the city centre and interacted with people and shopped there,” he said in a statement, issued on behalf of the industry and trade body.

“The hon’ble home minister was in a private car driven by the then chief minister (Omar Abdullah) and had proceeded to purchase Kashmiri suits, fruits and even had ice cream.”

Ali said he was referring to “that city tour… to demonstrate the minimal disturbance caused to the public although the status of the visiting dignitary was the same as today”.

Shinde, the first Union home minister to visit Kashmir for years, had shopped at the posh Polo View market and was driven through the city centre, Lal Chowk, with minimal security. The idea had been to underscore how the situation had improved in the Valley.

But the tensions deepened as the BJP and the People’s Democratic Party cobbled together an alliance to form the government in 2015, and the situation nose-dived after the security forces gunned down popular Hizb commander Burhan Wani in July 2016.

Abdul Hamid Wangnoo, chairperson of the Houseboat Owners Association, said local people and tourists had suffered through the day because of the restrictions.

“Only security vehicles were allowed on Dalgate Nishat Road (around 12km long), forcing people including the tourists to walk the distance. I haven’t seen such restrictions in a long time,” Wangnoo told The Telegraph.

“I took the alternative Dalgate Hazratbal Road to reach Shalimar, There was chaos on the road because of repeated traffic jams. It took me 90 minutes to reach my destination (instead of the usual 40 minutes).”

Ali said the government had chosen to ignore the sensitive nature of the tourism business with the traffic curbs and the bizarre advice “to tourists to restrict their movement to a bare minimum”.

“The restrictions are preventing customers from visiting hotels in the sealed-off zone and the Mughal Gardens.”

Sushil Kumar Shinde File Telegraph picture

Shah is visiting Kashmir for the first time since assuming office. Malik broke protocol and received him at the airport. Normally, a home minister would be received by a state minister or an adviser to the governor.

Officials said Shah chaired a meeting with civil administration officials and security agency chiefs immediately on arrival.

Shah is to visit the Amarnath shrine and meet the families of policemen killed in militant attacks. The Amarnath Yatra is to start on July 1.

Sources in pro-India political parties said they had not received any invite to meet Shah, calling the omission unprecedented. It’s unclear whether an invitation might be issued on Thursday.

“It’s customary for visiting dignitaries from the Centre to meet the leaders of political parties. We don’t know why we have not been invited this time,” a politician said.

The pro-India parties, including the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party, had been locked in a bitter battle with the BJP in the general election.

During the campaign, the BJP had promised to repeal Kashmir’s special status, prompting the mainstream parties to claim Kashmir would cease to be a part of India if that happened. This could be the reason Shah snubbed them.

A.P. Maheshwari, special secretary in the Union home ministry, read out a media statement in the evening that suggested Shah’s emphasis at Wednesday’s meeting was to ensure a peaceful Yatra.

Maheshwari said Shah had directed the forces to take “strict action against miscreants”, an apparent allusion to stone-throwers.

“The home minister reiterated the need to cover all the sensitive and vulnerable places, including possible points of infiltration, throughout the state in order to obviate any type of risk to the Yatra,” he said.