The All Parties Hurriyat Conference has revealed that Indian forces, including army and paramilitary personnel, are deliberately setting forests on fire, destroying water resources and chopping fruit trees in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. 

According to Kashmir Media Service, APHC spokesman Advocate Abdul Rashid Minhas, in a statement issued in Srinagar, said that Indian troops use explosives to ignite forest fires, aiming to establish military camps and firing ranges in the ecologically sensitive areas of the territory. 

The APHC expressed serious concern over the increasing incidents of forest fires, particularly in the Harwan Shankaracharya range and Bagediam in Srinagar, Tral to Pahalgam in South Kashmir, Rafiabad and Bandipora in North Kashmir, as well as Gutilbagh, Shalbagh, and Akahalt forest areas in Ganderbal.

The statement deplored the involvement of the Indian Army in these deliberate acts of environmental destruction.  Additionally, there are reports that Indian troops have been secretly cutting down apple orchards in Kashmir under the cover of darkness. In response, police have ordered orchard owners to install CCTV cameras to track movement within the dense apple farms.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)