Rafeeq Masoodi
My pen trembles today. My heart is heavy.
On Sunday at 8:58 AM, after a brief illness, my dear friend, my elder brother, and the green conscience of Jammu & Kashmir, Jb. G.H. Kango Sahib, breathed his last.
With him, a chapter of our mountains has closed. A voice that spoke for the forests has fallen silent. A pair of hands that planted lakhs of saplings has gone still.
The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests is no more. But the forests he loved will remember him forever.
He Was Not Just an Officer. He Was the Forest’s Friend
To call Jb. Kango Sahib a “forest officer” would be to do him injustice. He was the ecology and conservation man of our state. He did not see forests as timber, revenue, or files. He saw them as family.
When he served as Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, J&K, he carried the weight of the entire Himalayas on his shoulders. This was a time when our green cover was under immense pressure. Yet he stood like a deodar — unshaken.
He taught us a new language. In an era of “yield” and “extraction”, he spoke of “ecology”, “biodiversity”, and “watershed”. He told us, “If the forest dies, the river will cry. If the river cries, the farmer will weep. And if the farmer weeps, the nation will go hungry.”
He walked where no senior officer would. From the icy slopes of Gurez to the saffron fields of Pampore, from the dense woods of Bhaderwah to the wetlands of Wular — he went not in a convoy, but with a forester’s heart. He would bend down, touch a sapling, and ask the guard, “Beta, is it drinking water? Is it growing?”
For him, every chinar was a poem. Every pine was a prayer. Every deodar was a witness to 100 years of our history.
A Gentleman Carved From Integrity
I have known many officers in my life. But few had the quiet dignity of Kango Sahib.
He never shouted. He never took credit. He never compromised. His voice was soft, but his principles were made of stone. In meetings he would listen more than he spoke. And when he did speak, everyone would fall silent, because they knew — this man speaks for the trees.
He believed that the forest department’s real office was not in Srinagar or Jammu. It was in the village, under a tree, with the shepherd and the farmer. He built trust where there was suspicion. He taught us that a guard and a grazier can be friends. That conservation cannot happen with lathis, it happens with love.
His Second Life: Serving Those Who Served
Retirement did not mean rest for him. It meant a new kind of service.
As a Founder Member of the Central Government Pensioners Association, Kashmir, he became the father-figure for thousands of retired colleagues. He knew the pain of a pensioner waiting for a file. He knew the loneliness of old age.
So he opened his home. He opened his heart. He sat for hours, listening to grievances, writing letters, making phone calls. He would say, “Masoodi sahib, these are the people who built this state. We cannot forget them.”
For many of us, the CGPA Kashmir is not just an association. It is his living memorial — built with compassion, run with dignity.
My Fried, My Teacher
Sir, I will miss him in a thousand small ways.
I will miss our evening conversations on my veranda, where he would talk about the vanishing wetlands with tears in his eyes. I will miss how his face would light up when he spoke of a successful plantation. I will miss his gentle rebuke: “Rafeeq, we are borrowing this land from our children. We must return it greener.”
He was never bitter. Even when he saw trees being felled illegally, even when he saw apathy, he never lost hope. He would simply plant two more saplings the next day.
That was Kango Sahib. A man who answered destruction with creation.
What He Leaves Behind
How do we measure a man like him?
Not in awards. Not in promotions.
We measure him in the forests of Rajouri that are green today because of his drives.
We measure him in the springs of Kokernag that still flow because he protected their catchments.
We measure him in the young foresters who still walk the beat with his words in their ears: “You are not guarding trees. You are guarding life.”
We measure him in the CGPA office, where a pensioner still gets a cup of tea and a patient hearing.
He taught J&K that ecology is not a luxury. It is our survival. In these days of climate change, melting glaciers, and shrinking wetlands, his vision shines brighter than ever.
A Final Goodbye
The news came on Sunday morning. 8:58 AM. A brief illness. And just like that, the man who gave his life to trees, left us.
Today the chinars in Nishat seem to be weeping. The winds in the pine forests of Tangmarg seem to be whispering his name. The Wular seems a little emptier.
Jb. Kango Sahib did not die. Men like him never do. They live on in every leaf that turns green in spring. They live on in every river that finds its way to the valley. They live on in every child who learns to hug a tree instead of cutting it.
May Allah, in His infinite mercy, grant him Jannat-ul-Firdous. May He give sabr-e-jameel to his family.
And may we, who remain, have the courage to continue what he started.
Let us honor him the only way he would have wanted —
By planting a tree. By saving a forest. By loving this land.. I was one among the people who reached to his residence just minutes after his depart to his Creator..his grandchild Hamid told me while we were supervising making of his eternal home(grave) ,”Here people would burry their loved one’s & with the passage of time graves sometimes would crave in ,& Dadu would take care of remaking them,”….said one of the members of Masjid committee who looked so gloomy ….Kango saheb some months back called me & handedover details of Accounts of Mosque which he handled from years back till last month only & visited the grave of his mother alongwith him…Kango sahab looking at the Turbat(The Grave) of his mother had requested him,” If you were around when i depart please ensure I am put underneath her feet ,” which actually happened…Kango sir you were a lovely person & your mother gave you the place you desired ..that is…underneath her feet…The Jannah…… Kango sir knew he is leaving & hinted to me in my dream which I had in Wednesday last (Aug 5th).. actually he wanted me to do the exibition of his sketches & paintings in Sopore & later Srinagar,which i entrusted to one of leading Artists of India Javed Iqbal from Sopore which Alas we could not make happen…so he told me in my dream….”Lovely Masoodi sahab…you did not do Exibition of my Works”,i said ,sir now I will,,Wea kya karakh(Now no chance)..?I woke up at 3am & recorded sequence of my dream & waited till Dawn & at 7am forwarded it to Aijaz Kango sb ,his son,& late spoke to him to watch out Thursday,Friday ,Monday as these being very crucial days for pious souls to meet their Creator & Kango sir left on Sunday early hours…..kango sir you had planned it & Allah SBT granted you …..Be happy their sir
Rest in peace, Kango Sahib. The mountains will guard your memory.
Inna Lillahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajiun
“From Allah we came, and to Him we shall return.”
Dr. Rafiq Masoodi, the author and former Secretary, Poet, Broadcaster & Literary Scholar
