Image via Indiatoday.com
The most devastating floods in 60 years have induced a change in mindset in the ranks of Kashmiri militants. They now feel that global warming, which is being blamed by environmentalists for the erratic rainfall patterns behind the floods, is a bigger issue than abstract notions like ‘freedom from India’. So much so that many are now abandoning militancy to sign up with outfits such as Greenpeace to take up environmental causes.
“I had my priorities all wrong, man,” wailed Yasin Malik, a leading separatist now turned head of Greenpeace for South Asia. “All along, I was pushing for freedom from India when what we really want is freedom from greenhouse emissions so that we don’t have the recurrence of such devastating floods!” Malik and his associates will now urge Kashmiris to reduce their carbon footprint and do their bit to reduce global warming.
The Hurriyat, an umbrella group of political and religious organizations, has accordingly reinvented itself as an environmental NGO which will focus on green causes such as tree plantation, and cleaning of the Dal lake, going forward.
“What else hope do we have to stay relevant?” said the Hurriyat’s Syed Ali Shah Geelani. “We were completely useless as the Indian army rescued thousands of stranded Kashmiris. By turning into an environmental NGO, perhaps we can regain some lost ground.”