I am a Kashmiri from the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. I am a staunch supporter of a referendum in Kashmir. I have done MA from the Kashmir University.
I speak the following languages:
- Kashmiri - Fully fluent in the language. It is my native language and I have been speaking it since childhood.
- Hindi-Urdu - A must learn language in India and have been speaking it since childhood.
- English - Fully fluent. It was a compulsory language at school.
- German - Learning in progress.
- Punjabi - Can understand the language slightly, learning over time.
My interests are in Kashmiri History, the Dardic Languages, Political Science, and Military History.
The conservation of the Dardic Languages is an important goal for me. Important languages like Wotapuri and Tirahi have already gone extinct. It is an unfortunate fact that all of these endangered languages are spoken in a very disturbed zone. Kashmir, Nuristan, Kunar, Gilgit-Baltistan etc. are the regions where these are widely spoken. Now, the first and last region are part of the huge Kashmir Conflict, while the two in the middle are one of the most violent regions in Afghanistan.
If these languages are not paid attention to, they will, all die very soon.
Hence, I have been studying Shina, Palula, Khowar, and others since some time.