SRINAGAR : The national highway, connecting the Kashmir valley with the rest of the county, remained closed for the third day today as a precautionary measure.
Hundreds of passengers besides Amarnath pilgrims got stranded in different parts of the valley.
The closure of the 300-km-long highway has also affected supply of essential commodities to the Valley, though authorities claimed that enough stock was available here.
The highway was closed on Saturday following tension at several places on the other side of the Jawahar tunnel after clashes at Kishtwar on Friday in which three people were killed and several others were injured.
A traffic police official said here that no vehicle was allowed from Srinagar to Jammu for the third day.
This was a precautionary measure, he said, adding traffic will be resumed as and when a green signal is received from traffic police personnel deployed at different places on the highway.
He said similarly all traffic from Jammu to Kashmir valley has also been stopped.
Amarnath pilgrims, who had come from different parts of the country were stopped at Bagwati yatra niwas at Jammu.
Yatris, who had performed darshan and paid obeisance at the cave shrine since Friday, are also stranded at Baltal and Nunwan Pahalgam base camps.
Official sources said that a large number of vehicles, including those carrying passengers, and trucks loaded with fruits are stranded at Qazigund, the gateway of Kashmir and other places on this side of the tunnel.
A large number of Kashmir-bound passengers besides Amarnath pilgrims and trucks loaded with essentials are stranded at various places in Jammu, they added.
This is for the second time that the highway was closed because of protests and tension during the past one month.
Last month people protested at several places on the highway after four people were killed and several others were injured after BSF allegedly opened fire in Gool area of Ramban district.
The closure of the highway affected annual pilgrimage to the holy Amarnath cave shrine in south Kashmir Himalayas. (AGENCIES)
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