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Dear Community Members, Namskar!! I wish you, your family members and well-wishers a happy Indepen..
17 Aug 2022
Respected Members, Namaskar, The results of CBSE 12th and 10th have been declared in the month of July, 2022. It has given us joy to find out that the students of our community have obtained good percentage and come out with flying colours. We convey our good wishes to all successful students for their hard and laborious work and their determination for achieving their good percentage.
Our auspicious days August 27, Sunday: Darbha Mavas August 31, Wednesday: Vinayak Chachurthi. September 1, Thursday: Pann mahurat, Varah Panchami. September 2, Friday: Martand Teerth Yatra, Pann mahurat. September 8, Thursday: Vitasta Triyodashis. September 16, Friday: Sahiba Saptami.
Our auspicious days July 24, Sunday, Kamla Ekadashi, Kamalnag yatra, Traal. August 2, Tuesday, Nagapanchami, Kaunsarnag yatra, Naagadandi Mahayag, Achhabal. August 9, Tuesday, Shrawan Dwadashi, Kapalamochan, Shupian yatra August 12, Friday, Amareshwar yatra, Thejwara, Dyaneshwar, Rakhsha Bandhan. August 16, Tuesday, Chandan Shashti Vrat. August 18, Thursday, Zanma Satam
“O, Great mulberry tree peerless, thy name, existence immortalized infinitely in Tul Mul, so your fame You are truly “atulya mulya”, rendered name signifying to this pilgrimage.”
The story goes that Ali Mardan Khan, the Kurdish governor of Kashmir appointed by Shah Jahan, the governor who built Chashmeshahi Garden, the supposed owner of a philosopher stone got from a dead snake woman, was one night strolling around Shalimar Garden when his eyes suddenly fell on Mahadeo peak and saw something, believed he saw Shiva himself. He went on to write a poem on his experience. No one was to later claim that he must have been smoking or drinking Shiva stuff. The story is interesting not just because of the obvious ‘Muslim Man singing Hindu Hosanna’ thing but because in this particular story and the poem associated with the story, the whole unique Hindu concept of ‘Darshan’ and the concept of God having physical attributes is also adopted.
The Partition of India involved division of pre-August 1947 British India into two independent sovereign countries India and Pakistan. Incidentally, the partition saw the division of two big states Bengal and Punjab, based on district wise Muslim or Non-Muslim majorities. The partition also involved the division of the British Indian Army, the Royal Indian Navy, the Indian Civil Service, the railways, and the central treasury. The partition was outlined in the Indian Independence Act 1947 and resulted in the dissolution of the Crown rule in India. The two self-governing countries of India and Pakistan legally came into existence at midnight on 15 August 1947.
Renowned santoor player Bhajan Sopori passed away at a Gurugram hospital on June 2 last. He was 73. A Padma Shri recipient who was also often referred to as ‘the saint of santoor,’ Sopori was diagnosed with colon cancer in June, last year. “We admitted him to Fortis, Gurugram three weeks back for immunotherapy treatment. It didn’t work for him and his health deteriorated,” his son Abhay, also a santoor player, told PTI. Last month another virtuoso of the same instrument Shiv Kumar Sharma passed away following a heart attack in Mumbai. Suddenly, within a space of four weeks, santoor has lost two of its finest exponents.
Science that is no science Quote of Desmond Tutu, leader of South Africa: When missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said ‘Let us pray’. We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land!
These past two years have brought us all nearer to grief, whether we have experienced the loss of someone close or dearer to us or have read the mounting number of Covid deaths and obituaries or have mourned the absence of past moments with the departed, none of us could avoid grief. Now over two years into the pandemic it has turned into long-term grief. Covid has offered us an understanding how we are affected by loss to express openly our grief and recognize the trauma caused. Bidwell Smith, author on pain, grief and mourning, cautions the readers against resisting grief, again returning too quickly to reclaim our previous normal. “We need to be able to talk about it, share our stories of loss, and we need to have someone bear witness to what we are experiencing”, she says. She would like medical professionals and educationists to be well versed in language of loss and end of life to deal with those who face grieving, emotionally, physically and logically. Smith and Joan Didion, American grief experts, want us to know that we can move through that grief somewhere, accepting our finitude and finding peace with it. Grief embodies finitude and reminds us that we are stuck in our bodies and our life and we don’t get to choose global health in this world.
Movement – mobility, we all know – is important. It is, in fact, the essence of life. In short, movement is life and life is movement. Importance of movement has been nicely explained by Einstein — “Life is like riding a bicycle, to keep balance, you must keep moving”. It is important to move. Rather, we should move more and sit less. ‘To sit less and move more’ is the basic mantra to stay active and healthy. Any amount of movement is always better than no movement at all. Mr Martin Luther King Jr has very rightly said that “If you can’t fly, then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving”.
In my recent visit to the US, I came across a Gujarati family which have been NRI members for five generationsnow. In 1890s, their ancestor had left India for Zanzibar, an island off Tanganyika (modern Tanzania) in East Africa; later they migrated to Uganda and through their hard work and perseverance, established their business in various cities. In August 1972, President Idi Amin uprooted all citizens of Indian origin from Uganda – most of whom were of the Gujarati descent. They were stripped off their livelihood, belongings, families and in many cases their lives; given just three months to pack up and leave in a hostile socio-political environment, a situation was somewhat similar to the one KP families faced in Kashmir in 1990s. These families were British passport holders from colonial times and were settled in the UK. Most of these families clawed their way up through grit and determination, often working multiple shifts and double jobs. Today they are well settled in different parts of the world, living with dignity in UK, USA, Canada and even India, contributing their mite to the host country My friend, Sh. BVG was born in Uganda, educated in the UK and has never lived in India; his wife too comes from a Gujarati expatriate family from East Africa. When I visited their home in Wayne, New Jersey, recently, I felt as if I was entering a typical Indian Gujarati household – having lived in Gujarat for the last 20 years, I should be able to tell! From the décor of the house to the vegetarian food we partook, to the language used in the house (including by his US-born daughters) - I never felt that I was in an NRI household! Sh. BVG and his entire extended clan have retained their Indianness and Hindu ethos, whether living in Africa or in the UK or now in the US. He addresses India as Bharat only and has kept his Bharatiya cultural moorings alive all these years, as fresh as ever, with love and patriotic fervour.
It may be cumbersome to unfold the chronological pathway to rich cultural heritage of Kashmiri Pandits, evolved through more than five thousand years of the discourses of home grown sages and saints, their penance and the influence subsequently rendered to the inhabitants. Bereft of modern amenities of transportation and surrounded by lofty Himalayan mountains, the valley developed into a full-fledged cohesive Hindu Shaivist society. Shaivism is a unique school of thought, having originated from the valley itself. Sticking to Shaivist philosophy of Hinduism led to our preferences of the festivals, with Shivratri at the head of it and all others being at the tertiary place. Being ardent followers of Shaivism, we developed our own way, quite different from the Hindus of the rest of India, of conducting Shivratri, stretching for continuous fifteen days from Preti to Amavasia, with emphasis on Bhairav Pooja and offering non-vegetarian “bhogs” to the deities. This is unique only to Kashmiri Pandits. Our society, through ages, has indigenously initiated, developed and standardized hosts of customs, traditions and rituals – be it births, birthdays, deaths, marriages, yegneopavits and allied functions. This goes without saying that the repository of the heritage, traditions, customs, folklore etc. is the Mother Tongue. Kashmiri language flourished in isolation, with rich vocabulary, phraseology, idioms and proverbs with no distinct lipi, having flown down through ages only through the word of mouth. It is a verbal transmission from generation to generation, with an incremental change in the dialects of southern, central and northern regions of the valley respectively. Being Brahmans, we were at the vanguard of education. Education has been considered our birth right. We were to be educated and propagate education in every manner. Its fruits were borne in the manifestation of reputed poets, poetesses, mystics, writers, scholars, doctors and celebrities of calibre. Some could even attain the courteirship of Muslim kings or chieftains. At the top of it we had established a prestigious seat of learning by the name of Shardapeeth ( University ), now in ruins in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Its lingua franca was Sharda. Even our horoscopes are written in the Sharda lipi. This sanctum sanctorum of education attracted students from the length and breadth of India.
Loudspeaker crackdown issues are buzzing over the nation with different dimensions giving to it from religious to political to social. The fact of the matter is that it should be treated as a social and social issue only. In several states loudspeakers have been removed from religious places and in some states like Maharashtra loudspeakers have been removed partially and in some it have not been removed and some people demand total ban on the use of loudspeakers.
—Er. P.L. Khushu Yet another brutal killing of a young Kashmiri Pandit Rahul Bhat, working in the office of Tehsildar Chadroo, in the district Badgam of Kashmir. He was shot dead inside the main office premises of the Tehsil Office on 13thMay,2022, in broad day light, under the very nose of others working in that office, of course being mostly the Muslim employees. The lured terrorists barged into the office and shot from a close-range Rahul Bhat, working under Prime Minister’s Rehabilitation Package (PMRP), as a clerk. What a pathos? He was immediately referred to a Srinagar hospital where doctors declared him dead.As per Press information the slain body of Rahul Bhat reached Sheikhpora, Budgam, migrant colony in the evening.
K. P. govt staffer killed by militants in valley Arun Sharma, Bashaarat Masood, Jammu, Srinagar Militants, on May 12, barged into a government office in central Kashmir’s Budgam district and fatally shot a Kashmiri Pandit employee — the third attack against the minority community in the Valley this year. Police said Rahul Bhat, a revenue department official at the tehsil office in Chadoora, was taken to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. They said two militants were involved in the attack and that Bhat was shot point blank with a pistol. Courtesy: Times of India, May 13. 2022
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J&K Govt. awards 23 distinguished persons The Jammu and Kashmir Government has released a list of 23 persons who have been selected for government awards. These include poet, teacher and social reformer, late Sarvanand Koul Premi and late Harbans Lal Maini, retired Chief Engineer, who have been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously.
Our auspicious days October 7 : Thursday: Navaratra aaramb. October 11: Monday: Kumaarashashthi. October 13: Wednesday: Durgaashtami. October 15: Friday: Vijayadashami. October 24: Sunday: Sankat nivaran Chaturthi.
Our auspicious days August 25: Wednesday: Sankata Nivaran Chaturthi. August 30: Monday: Janamashtami. September 10: Friday: Vinayaka Chaturthi. September 11: Saturday: Rishi Panchami. September 12: Sunday: Vijaya Saphtami, Kumara Shashti. September 14: Tuesday: Laleshwari Jayanti. September 17: Friday: Sankranti vrat. September 18: Saturday: Vitasta, Verinag Yatra. September 19: Sunday: Ananta Chaturdashi. September 21: Monday: Pitrapakhsha Aramb
NEWS
Our auspicious days
Leaders of Kashmiri Samiti Delhi, of K.P. organisations and welfare associations of the capital and N.C.R. held a discussion on the statement made by Home Minister Amit Shah, in Parliament, on February 13. He was speaking in connection with an amendment act relating to Jammu and Kashmir.
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PM’s residential construction plan for common citizens Bhadarwah resident receives Best Award Bed-ridden for the last 15 years, a 65-year-old man from Bhadarwah in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district was among three residents of the Union Territory who recently received the ‘best construction award’ under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
PM’s residential construction plan for common citizens Bhadarwah resident receives Best Award Bed-ridden for the last 15 years, a 65-year-old man from Bhadarwah in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district was among three residents of the Union Territory who recently received the ‘best construction award’ under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). Abdul Latief Ganai expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said “the scheme came as a blessing in disguise for his family”. Modi and Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri awarded the ‘best construction award’ under PMAY to Ganai through video conferencing on the New Year Day The awardee was joined by Doda Deputy Commissioner Sagar Dattaray Doifode, Bhadarwah Municipal Committee Executive Officer Yusaf-Ul-Umar and other officials at the mini secretariat in Doda. During the video conference, Modi talked about the scheme that started in June 2015 and the number of beneficiaries from poor and middle-class families. Out of the total 88 beneficiaries selected for the best construction award from the country, three belonged to Jammu and Kashmir — one each from Samba, Ramgarh and Bhadarwah. “Due to my prolonged illness, I had to sell everything I had and lived in one room with my wife and two sons but the scheme came as a big relief to my family,” Ganai told PTI. Hailing from ward 10 of Tharra Mohalla locality of Bhadarwah town, Ganai used to work at a small cloth shop but a severe slip disc left him bedridden for 15 years and bankrupt. “The scheme came as a blessing in disguise for my family as today we are living in our own pucca house and also have been awarded for the best construction by the Prime Minister himself,” the villager said. His 24-year-old son, Nadeem Latief, who recently completed his post-graduation in history, also joined his father at Doda during the video conference and felt elated while his father’s name was being announced for the best construction award. “We have seen very difficult times as for years. My brother and I used to spend nights with our cousins or at a friend’s place as we have only one room, but now we have our own roof for which we are thankful to the Prime Minister,” Nadeem said. (Courtesy: Times of India, January 4, 2020) Gaashtarukh viii — KP Idol Talent Hunt Jammu Kashmir Vichar Mancha socio-cultural organisation, has strived hard for the ast 25 years to protect and preserve the Kashmiri culture and language. Towards achieving this, JKVM has been organising cultural programmes, seminars and various competitions to promote the Kashmiri language. In this direction we have been involving and evolving the Kashmiri Pandit youth with their active participation in various such events. Gaashtarukhis a yearly musical event organised for the community youth to create a greater connect with their roots, i.e., Kashmir, its culture and language. This year we successfully organised the Gaashtarukh VIII through virtual platforms for over a period of one month. The children participated in Kashmiri singing, dance and instrumentals in various age groups. All the participants are awarded a medallion and a certificate of participation. The Winner, i.e., the Gaashtrukh, The KP Idol,gets a trophy and a cash prize also. The final list of winners in various categories is: Senior Singing: winner — Ms. Siya Pota, Delhi — Gaashtarukh, The KP Idol Senior Singing: 1st runner up — Ms. Krisha Bhat, Jaipur Senior Singing: 2nd runner up — Ms. Upasana Pandita, Indirapuram Junior Singing: winner— Ms. Geetika Bhat — Bengaluru — Gaashtarukh, The KP Idol Junior Singing: 1st runner up — Mr. Daksh Bhat — Zirakpur Junior Singing: 2nd runner up — Ms. Lavanaya Koul — Jammu Senior Dancing: winner— Ms. Aarna Ambaradr, Vaishali — Gaashtarukh, The KP Idol Senior Dancing: 1st runner up — Ms. Priya Laxmi Koul, Shalimar Garden Senior Dancing: 2nd runner up— Ms. Sneha Pandita, Faridabad Junior Dancing: winner — Mr. Vihaan Tickoo — Jammu —-Gaashtarukh, The KP Idol Junior Dancing: 1st runner up — Ms. Aneka Jala, Ghaziabad Junior Dancing: 2nd runner up — Ms. Arshiya Malla, Pune Senior Instrumentals: Winner— Mr. Neal Pandita, vaishali — Gaashtarukh, The KP Idol Junior Instrumentals: Winner— Mr. Sarthak Pandita, Vaishali — Gaashtarukh, The KP Idol The elite panel of judges comprised Sh. Chand Narayan Ji (Master Ji); Sh. Rajinder Kachroo JI; Sh. Dileep Langoo Ji; Smt. Naina Saproo Ji and Smt. Sushma Kalla Ji who judged the singing and instrumental categories; Sh. Aneesh Ji and Smt Himani Jiwho judged the dance category. ThePresident and the General Secretary thanked the participants and their parents for cooperating with the team JKVM for successfully completing the marathon event Gaashtarukh VIII. They also thanked the team of Jammu Kashmir Vichar Manch who put in a brilliant and selfless effort to successfully conduct the competitions. UNESCO Award for Srinagar Amar Singh College The Srinagar-based Amar Singh College’s building, built nearly 80 years ago, is one of the seven conservative projects to be recognised with the 2020 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. The award was announced by a jury, comprising nine international conservation experts, and it was convened from November 20 to 22 to deliberate on the project entries. The deliberations were held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, INTACH’s Jammu and Kashmir chapter said. The Amar Singh College was recognised with the ‘Award of Merit’ in the 2020 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation, it said. This year, the jury awarded two Special Recognition for Sustainable Development awards, one Award of Excellence, one Award of Distinction, one Award for New Design in Heritage Contexts and three Awards of Merit, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) Jammu and Kashmir chapter said. The INTACH chapter in the Union Territory had carried out the conservation work at the Amar Singh College. “The restoration of the Amar Singh College brought back one of the most prominent institutional buildings in Kashmir to its former glory. Undertaken with a high level of technical proficiency, the project reversed major deterioration resulting from years of inappropriate additions, poor maintenance, and catastrophic events such as the unprecedented flooding in 2014,” the jury said in its comments about the work done one the project. “The project team’s meticulous attention to original building design and materials involved training a new generation of building artisans in brick and stone masonry,” it said. The project serves as a noteworthy model for safeguarding a unique 20th-century architectural asset in the Victorian neighborhood of the old city of Srinagar, the jury said. (Courtesy: Rising Kashmir: PTI MIJ ANB) Snowfall enhanced tourism income in Kashmir Junaid Kathju Srinagar, Dec 20: Despite little promotions by the local travel and tourism fraternity in the ongoing COVID pandemic, the recent snowfall has attracted a good number of travellers to ski resort Gulmarg. As per reports, most of the hotels at the premier ski resort of the country were sold out till the first week of January. Director Tourism Kashmir Nisar Ahmad Wani said that all the hotels and most of the huts in Gulmarg were fully booked till January 5. “We are happy that tourists have started arriving in Kashmir once again. Gulmarg is our main tourist destination in winter which is abuzz with travellers,” Wani said. Wani said they have already started a plethora of winter sports activities which has created a buzz among the travellers who are keen to visit the ski resort. “Tourists can enjoy many sports activities including skiing, snowboarding, snow cycling, sledging and All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) race, snow-tubing, etc.,” he said. In October, Gulmarg Gondola, was also reopened for tourists after remaining closed for six months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Though the ropeway is currently operating only till the first phase, Wani said the second phase of the Gondola too would be made operational soon. “We require a minimum of 2-metre thick snow for the second phase. In the next snowfall, we will make it operational as well,” he saidon December 20,2020. Travel and Hospitality sector is also upbeat over the good tourist footfall. President Travel Agents Society of Kashmir (TASK) Mir Anwar said there are ample number of bookings confirmed. “Gulmarg hotels are also sold out for this period.” Anwar said early snowfall has played a vital role in tourism revival. “Both the stakeholders and department of tourism have played an important role in the promotion of tourism which is bearing the fruits this time. We are hopeful of a good winter season.” President of Travels Agents Association of Kashmir (TAAK), Farooq Ahmad Kuthoo also said the early snowfall in Gulmarg and Sonmarg has increased tourists’ interest in holidaying in the Valley. “We are getting a lot of queries for the winter season. Most of the hotels are booked in Gulmarg till January,” said Kuthoo. Many travellers had to postpone their visits to Kashmir due to non-availability of the rooms in Gulmarg. A traveller from Kolkata, Vaibhav, had arranged his tour for Kashmir on Christmas. However due to non-availability of rooms at Khyber, he had to postpone his plans to the second week of January. “We are three families, we couldn’t get rooms at Khyber hotel from December 25 onwards till January next week. We had to shift our dates to the next available dates at Khyber,” he said. Secretary-General JK Hoteliers Club Tariq Rashid Ghani said it is almost after a year that tourism has picked up in the Valley. “We have faced a lot of hardships for the past year. Finally, we are doing some business,” Ghani said. “We are hopeful that in summer also, the tourists will continue to visit.” Tourism is the key sector of Jammu and Kashmir’s economy and accounts for almost 8 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Indian Army celebrates Diwali and Children’s Day with locals in Sopore In continuation with various Military Civic Action Programmes, aimed at “Winning Hearts and Minds” of the Local AWAM, Zalurah COB of Sopore/Watlab Rashtriya Rifles Battalion celebrated the auspicious occasion of Diwali and Children’s Day by distributing sweets and ration to the underprivileged and the destitute of the region. The locals, especially children, were excited to receive sweets and gifts from the soldiers and spread their invaluable smiles to make the surroundings full of love, affection, peace and harmony showering from each delighted face. The gala day culminated on a positive note. The beneficiaries appreciated the goodwill gesture of the forces. They expressed a sense of satisfaction towards normalcy returning in the region. Mehbooba’s U-turn on Tricolour: ‘Will hold both flags together’ SRINAGAR: Former J&K CM and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, on November 10, did a U-turn on her refusal to hoist the Tricolour, only to ignite a fresh controversy by saying that terrorism had spiked under BJP’s watch because Kashmiri youth would rather pick up the gun than get hauled to jail for voicing dissent. “I have taken oath with my hand on both Jammu and Kashmir’s (erstwhile) constitution and the Constitution of India to protect the sovereignty and integrity of the country. I will hold both flags together,” Mehbooba told reporters at the end of her five-day Jammu outreach. “We are the people, especially those in the Valley, who had held the Tricolour high over the years at the cost of thousands of lives. It is only because of the government’s high-handedness that youth in Kashmir are again taking to the gun,” she said. In her first presser after being released from detention under the Public Safety Act last month, Mehbooba had said that she wouldn’t hoist the national flag until J&K’s special status was restored along with its flag. Courtesy: Times of India, November 11, 2020. PoK Muslims offer pooja at Sharda Peeth Save Sharda Committee Kashmir organized a small puja, during the Navratri festival, at Sharda Peeth in PoK, on October 23. Civil society members, across the LoC, laid flowers and applied sindoor (vermillion) inside the Peeth — for the first time in the last 72 years. The members were led by Mr. Rayees Mohammed, who laid flowers on behalf of Ssharda followers. The civil society, across, laid flowers and made a sindoor swastik on the sanctum sanctorum. It was in November, 2016, that flowers were laid on the Sharda Peeth through the civil society across LoC. Swami Nand Lal Ji — a Kashmiri saint — was the last to sit on this peeth up to 1948. Swami Ji had to move to Tikker in Kupwara after the tribal raids. Since then, no J&K Hindu has gone there , nor any pilgrimage held. Save Sharda Committee Kashmir is pressing for reopening of Sharda Peeth and has been in touch with the authorities in India, Pakistan and PoK for the purpose.
In online essay writing competition Ramakrishna Mission , Srinagar; Zeishtha Devi Prabandakh Committee, Srinagar and Kashmiri Pandit Sabha, Ambphalla jointly organised first-ever Online Essay writing Competition Post 1990 for the children of minorities who are still presently settled in the valley in their homes or Displaced Camps.
Kashmiri Samiti Delhi observed “Balidan Diwas”, on September 14, along with all Kashmiri Pandit organisations at Kashmir Bhawan, Amar Conly, Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi.
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Sheetalnath remembrance sent for Ram Mandir “Raja-Kan”, of the holy land of Shitalnath, Srinagar, has been sent to the Organizing Committee for the “bhumi-pujan”. Shitalnath has been the centre of Hindu society in Kashmir from the historical, social, cultural and political point of view along with being the “karama-bhumi” of forii Pandits. Sharda Peeth soil for Ram Mandir
New Delhi, June 24. Reports of senior PLA officer Gen Zhao Zongqi, in charge of China’s western theatre command, approving the assault on Indian troops at Galwan Valley on the night of June 15 has sparked a fresh discussion over the predetermined attack and motives behind the aggressive act.
We won’t leave Kashmir’, says family of slain Pandit sarpanch Ajay Pandita alias Bharti, sarpanch of of Lukbawan village who was shot dead by terrorists in Anantnag on Monday, had spoken about threats to his life last December and had demanded security.
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Kashmiri Pandit Conference, at a meeting, on August 22 last, said that the recent decision of the abrogation of Article 370 by Modi Govt. at the Centre, has paved the way for the Central Government to, directly, redress the problems and meet the aspirations of the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community
The Chief Guest of the function, BJP M. P. from Delhi, Manoj Tiwari, presented shawls to Kashmiri migrants. He embraced them and offered them sweets.
Samay, the Kashmiri Pandit boy, who grew up in Hyderabad after his parents migrated from the Valley in the 90s, was the youngest contestant on the show. The 21-year-old performed exceptionally well in the finale and got the highest live audience score
Shree Pushkara Swami Sewa Ashram Najafgarh, New Delhi and Chinore, Bantalab, Jammu, condoles the demise of Sh Ashwani Kalla, son of Shri Ashok Kumar Kalla, one of the trustees of the Ashram.
The Jammu Kashmir Vichar Manch has welcomed the landmark, momentous and unprecedented move by the Government to revoke Article 370 and bifurcate the State and converting the state of J&K into Union Territory. This is a historical moment to rejoice for all Indians in general and Kashmiri Pandits in particular.
The Shivala Temple in the Kashmiri Mohalla of Sialkot, Pakistan, has reopened after a lapse of 72 years. It opened after the Pak Prime Minister Imran Khan took a decision to that effect. According to the current indications, Pakistani Hindus, from various provinces, will be allowed to make pilgrimage to the temple. In the next phase, Kashmiri Hindus, also, will be allowed to visit. Save Sharda Committee Kashmir has welcomed the decision. In a letter addressed to Mr. Imran Khan, the Committee demanded that Sharda Peeth, across LoC, also, be reopened for J&K Hindus immediately.
“Sharda Civilization: A Cultural and Historic Perspective” was the topic of the seminar held in London, on July 20 last, at the William Barry Theatre, West London University. It was organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Study Centre (JKSC, U.K).