Srinagar, April 30 -- I spent Earth Day this year with Dr Altaf Hussain, in the open lawns of Nature University in Pampore. There were no speeches or media. Just a few of us, invited by environmentalist Nadeem Qadri, talking under a soft April sun.

Dr Altaf, now a Member of the Senedd in Wales, didn't speak right away. But when he did, he didn't hold back.

"Kashmir has lost it," he said quietly. "There is no way of revival, at least in this century."

It wasn't drama. It was raw honesty from someone who has lived far away but never looked away.

Born in Kashmir, Dr Altaf earned his Master's in Surgery here in 1972 before heading to the UK for another degree in Liverpool. He taught at a medical college in Kashmir for a while, but was rem...