Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Mirwaiz-e-Kashmir Dr Moulvi Muhammad Umar Farooq on Friday described the devastating floods that struck Nepal and the wider Himalayan region as a direct warning for Jammu and Kashmir, urging greater protection for the region’s fragile mountain ecology. Addressing the Friday congregation at the historic Jama Masjid in Srinagar, the Mirwaiz expressed solidarity with the people of Nepal and offered prayers for those who lost their lives, those still missing and all those affected by the disaster.
He noted that Jammu and Kashmir forms part of the same fragile Himalayan belt and is already experiencing more intense rainfall, cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides in recent years. While acknowledging climate change as a major contributing factor, he questioned whether the region’s own pattern of development was compounding the danger. The Mirwaiz said Kashmir’s mountains, lakes and rivers were central not only to its natural beauty and tourism economy but also to the livelihoods of a large section of the population, making their protection an urgent priority rather than an optional concern.
He voiced sharp concern over what he called reckless exploitation of the region’s ecology in the name of commerce and development, citing mountain cutting and blasting for road construction, deforestation, unchecked construction of hotels and buildings in ecologically sensitive zones, and disturbance of natural drainage channels. Continuing such activity without adequate scientific and environmental safeguards, he warned, could significantly raise the risk of future disasters similar to what Nepal has just endured.
The Mirwaiz also raised concern over encroachment upon wetlands, lakes and flood channels, urging people to refrain from occupying or building on such areas, describing wetlands as natural buffers that absorb excess water and protect human settlements rather than unused land available for development. Turning specifically to Dal Lake, he said its shrinking condition illustrated the long term consequences of encroachment, construction and environmental neglect, adding that the lake continues to shrink while the wider public looks away.
Quoting the Holy Qur’an on the prohibition against causing corruption on earth after it has been set in order, the Mirwaiz said responsibility for protecting the Himalayan environment rests collectively with authorities, planners, businesses and citizens alike. He called for a careful balance between infrastructure and tourism development on one hand and ecological preservation on the other, warning that the consequences of continued disturbance to mountains, forests, wetlands and waterways could ultimately prove irreversible for a region that shares Nepal’s Himalayan vulnerability.
