Description
Colonial rule operates through the domination of ecological desire—the power to shape the environment and define its future possibilities. This paper explores how these dynamics unfold in Kashmir under Pakistan’s administration, particularly along the Line of Control. I examine how the environment becomes a contested stage for competing desires, filtered through the ongoing Occupation of the former princely state and indigenous demands for azadi: self-determination: sovereignty: freedom.
The military’s ecological interventions, such as large-scale tree plantation campaigns, seek control and predictability, imposing order on the landscape through the planting of thousands of trees in perfectly straight lines. These state-led projects contrast with more spontaneous and unruly ecological practices of residents, whose actions reflect a broader moral and imaginative capacity at play. Notably, residents engage in acts like namesake tree plantations, foraging, and ""flower bombing""— small-scale, mostly personal practice of deliberate scattering of seeds on public land—which challenge military attempts to control both the land and the imagination. Flowers that bloom near barbed wire, sandbags, and army barracks create a subtle yet powerful counterpoint to the harsh realities of militarized infrastructure, signaling a vision of Kashmir yet to come.
In militarized Kashmir, the environment is not only a site of conflict but also a co-produced terrain. By examining the intersection of colonial power and resistance through local ecological practices, I show how the environment in Kashmir becomes a speculative site where domination and the desire for self-determination unfold in parallel.
