Srinagar, Aug. 15 -- By Syed Sammar Mehdi

By midday, the hills above Harwan had begun to sound different.

People gathered along the town's green slopes, officials moved between them, sweets passed from hand to hand, and an Independence Day celebration took off in a place where the occasion had once carried a far more muted presence.

Mohammad Muqsit Wani, a Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service officer, was among those moving through the gathering.

He greeted residents, spoke with officials and was seen distributing sweets as people assembled around the celebration.

The scene gave a glimpse into a changing public landscape in Kashmir. Harwan, a hill locality on Srinagar's eastern edge, has long been associated with gardens, wooded ...