Coming from South Kashmir & having seen this all my life, I know what planting an apple tree truly means to a grower.
It is not just agriculture.
It is parenthood.
A sapling is raised the way a child is raised, with years of care, patience, worry, sacrifice, prayers & hope.
Please separate Kashmir from its south-Asian neighbours geographically and culturally in your narrations. It's not just ethical but historically accurate, irrespective of the contemporary nation-state reality!