Kashmir Remembers a Prime Minister on Ice as Snow Drought Deepens

SrinagarAbdul Rashid Shangloo was a teenager in Srinagar when he saw a jeep cross Dal Lake.

- Arshid Mehraj

The then prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad, used the stunt to show how strong winter could be in the valley.

Now in his mid-eighties, Shangloo can still hear the tires crunching on ice. He remembers the laughter, the thrill, and the way winter once seemed to command everything around it.

Today, he sits near the same lake during Chilai Kalan, the coldest part of winter, and watches sunlight ripple across open water.

“It looks like another season,” he said. “This doesn't feel like winter anymore.”