Srinagar, June 13 -- By Syed Nissar H Gilani

The lanes of Shehr-e-Khas in downtown Srinagar are tight and timeworn. Houses lean in close, and the air carries the soft noise of ordinary life layered over history.

Then you reach Malkha.

What looks like an ordinary crowded cemetery today is actually a living record of how Kashmir changed.

This ground once formed part of a thousand-kanal orchard heavy with grapes. Mir Muhammad Hamadani bought the entire tract for 29.50 rupees in the currency of his time and gave it away as waqf so new Muslim converts could rest together with respect.

That generous act anchored a community.

Today only about a hundred kanals remain. Private hands and official projects have eaten away the rest, and even th...