Srinagar, June 18 -- On Wednesday, a small delegation walked into the office of Budgam's newly posted Deputy Commissioner, Dr. Bilal Mohi-Ud-Din Bhat. They didn't come with slogans or protest banners. Just facts, names, and a growing list of what they say is being lost-rivers, pastures, livelihoods.

"There are laws. But they're only on paper," said Dr. Raja Muzaffar Bhat, who led the group from the Jammu and Kashmir RTI Movement. "What we're seeing is destruction in broad daylight."

The activists handed over documents and verbal complaints. They spoke of illegal clay mining in remote blocks, of fruit trees axed without fair compensation in Surasyar, and of Gujjar and Chopan herders being denied access to traditional grazing routes.

"Pa...