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Hindustan Times
03-08-2025
- Science
- Hindustan Times
Ancient India was engine of world civilization: J&K LG
Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha while attending the Chinar Book Festival organised by National Book Trust of India at Srinagar said that books offer new ideas and fresh perspectives that change the way we perceive things. Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan with Jammu and Kashmir Lt governor Manoj Sinha at a stall during inaugural ceremony of the 'Chinar Book Festival', at SKICC in Srinagar, Saturday. (PTI) The inaugural event on Saturday was also attended by Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Sinha congratulated the Union ministry of education and the National Book Trust for providing an opportunity to the readers to keep track of new ideas and perspectives and interact with eminent writers and scholars from across the country. 'The books open the window to the world. Books offer new ideas and fresh perspectives that change the way we perceive things and promote critical thinking. Chinar Book Festival will connect the new generation to our literary heritage and inspire them to preserve and promote our traditional wisdom left behind by our ancestors,' he said. He also asked the writers to think about rewriting the history to correct the facts. 'New generation must be made aware that our civilization was economically prosperous and it was also the global centre of literature, science and spirituality. Ancient India was the engine of world civilization and culture. We gave the gift of science, mathematics, medicines to the world and we should be proud of our cultural, literary, scientific and spiritual heritage. We need to liberate ourselves from the colonial mindset and the new generation must be told that our heritage has been leading in the world and the gift of science that we have given to the entire humanity is incomparable,' he said. Sinha also stressed on reviving India's ancient knowledge system and make it a part of mainstream education. The LG also asked the National Book Trust to actively promote famous Kashmiri, Pahari, Gojri, Dogri, Urdu, and Punjabi literature at book festivals and ensure their translation into various languages to reach a wider audience. The 9-day annual festival will provide an opportunity to the readers to keep track of new ideas and perspectives and interact with eminent writers and scholars from across the country
The Wire
23-04-2025
- The Wire
‘We Are Mourning For All Who Were Killed With Adil': Family of Kashmiri Man Killed in Pahalgam
Hapatnar, Anantnag (J&K): Sitting in the corner of a dimly lit room, 55-year-old Baby Jan, sheds silent tears as she waits for the body of Syed Adil Hussain, her eldest son who was among 26 victims of the Pahalgam attack. Adil, whose only newborn daughter passed away recently, was the lone Kashmiri civilian who was killed in the attack in the south Kashmir resort on Tuesday (April 22), and the circumstances in which he was killed perhaps hold the key to understanding the motivation of the attackers. 'We are not mourning the demise of Adil alone,' Khalida Parveen, aunt of Adil told The Wire , weeping incessantly, 'We are crying for all those tourists who were killed in Pahalgam. The whole of Kashmir is in mourning. The government should not rest till the perpetrators are punished'. Adil's mother Jan, who speaks only in the Gojri language, said that her son left home – Hapatnar village of Anantnag district – on Tuesday morning for Pahalgam where he worked for daily wages. Adil offered tourists horse rides to Baisaran and other places in the south Kashmir health resort. Baby Jan shedding silent tears at her home while waiting for her son's body. Photo: Jehangir Ali. 'The owner of the horse gave him Rs 300-400 per day. ̛In winter, he used to go and work in Jammu. This is how he has been sustaining our family. I don't know how we are going to survive without him. Our world has turned upside down,' Jan said. Adil's father, Syed Haider Hussain Shah, said that his second son, Syed Nowshad Hussain, who works as a private driver in Pahalgam, phoned him at around 4 pm on Tuesday, asking whether Adil had gone to work. Due to the nature of their work, Adil used to return home to Hapatnar every evening while his brother Nowshad often stayed back at the resort because tourists would return late to their hotels. Syed Adil Hussain, who died in the Pahalgam attack. Photo: By arrangement. 'I felt something was wrong and phoned Adil but he didn't answer. Then, one of my nephews who also works in Pahalgam phoned to say that Adil had been injured in the attack. It was later in the evening, at around 10 pm, that we got to know that Adil was no more,' said Shah. Speaking with The Wire, Abdul Waheed Wani, president of ponywallah association in Pahalgam, said that he reached the site of the massacre in Baisaran some 45 minutes after the incident took place. The popular offbeat meadow at the end of a rugged, seven-kilometre trail from main Pahalgam is not serviced by road and the only way to reach there is by foot, on a horseback or in a chopper. 'I called the local police to stop sending tourists to Baisaran,' Wani said, 'Bodies were scattered all over the meadow. We hauled the injured on horseback and sent them to Pahalgam from where they were sent to different hospitals. There were around 1,000-1,500 people in the area when the attack took place'. Wani added: 'It is like a hailstorm hitting a blooming garden. Hundreds of people in Pahalgam earned a livelihood by working in the tourism sector. The attack is going to destroy our livelihood'. According to reports, a Nepali national is among 26 victims who were killed in the attack. Seventeen more are injured, two of them critically. A pony rider, who was present in Baisaran at the time of the attack, said that the firing lasted for five to seven minutes and the tourists were targeted randomly by the perpetrators who are believed to be members of The Resistance Front, an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit. A woman mourning the demise of Syed Adil Hussain outside their home in Hapatnar village of Anantnag district. Photo: Jehangir Ali. 'I could hear screams and ran from cover. I didn't see the attackers but tourists were running everywhere. Many tourists fell down and suffered injuries because they could not keep pace with the running crowd,' he said, wishing to stay anonymous. As Adil's family waited for his body to return home on Wednesday, haunting silence prevailed in the village. In the lawn of the bereaved family's rundown, single-storey house, hundreds of young and old men and women gathered to console his father, mother and sisters while neighbours and relatives made preparations for a funeral. On one side of the house, men milled around in groups of dozens and spoke in hushed tones with each other while women sat on jute mats rolled out across the lawn on the other side of the house, shedding tears in silence. The dilapidated building was brimming with mourners and even the small flight of broken stairs which led into the house was occupied. From the window of the house's wooden attic, a young girl craned out her neck while wiping her tears with her headscarf. 'This young woman came to this house recently with her groom,' Parveen, Adil's aunt said, referring to Adil's recent wedding. 'Now she is waiting for his body.'
