Professor Neerja Mattoo writes: “Though Shahid was not based in Kashmir after he left to do his Masters in English from Delhi University, Kashmir stayed close to his heart. His regular visits to the land of his birth kept him in touch with his friends and the developments here. The events of the nineties, the death and destruction of everything that was valuable, including that of the special feature of Kashmiri society – its natural acceptance of religious, linguistic and cultural diversity – caused him great anguish… he became the voice that articulated the tragedy and was heard internationally. He did not only lament the loss of young lives that fell to bullets from known and unknown hands, he was also overcome with pain for the flight and subsequent plight of the Kashmiri Pandits.”
Works of globally acclaimed Kashmiri-American poet Agha Shahid Ali and prominent journalist and writer Basharat Peer have been removed from the curriculum of the University of Kashmir ostensibly as a result of the New Education Policy (NEP). The University of Kashmir used to teach three of Shahid Ali’s poems—‘Postcard from Kashmir’, ‘In Arabic’, and ‘The Last Saffron’ to MA students. Peer’s Curfewed Night was also part of the same course. Two poems of Shahid Ali—‘Postcard from Kashmir’ and the ‘Wolf’s Postscript’— were also taught in the BA course at the University of Kashmir.
Professor Nilofer Khan, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kashmir, said that the new policy that has been introduced in the union territory is the reason the university administration decided to remove some literature from the curriculum. She, however, refused to say whether any other works have been removed apart from that of Shahid Ali and Peer….
After the truth-shower 