Two leading Kashmir universities drop local writers’ work

The works of two critically-acclaimed Kashmiri writers have been dropped from the curriculum by two leading universities of Kashmir without an explanation, reports The Wire.

The University of Kashmir, the valley’s premier higher-educational institution, has dropped three poems by Kashmiri-American poet Agha Shahid Ali along with author and journalist Basharat Peer’s memoir from the curriculum of a postgraduate programme in English. Shahid’s famous poems – Postcard from Kashmir, In Arabic and The Last Saffron – and Peer’s Curfewed Night were taught in the third semester of the Masters of Arts (English) course at the university. “These works will no longer be part of the curriculum from this year onwards,” a source at the university said, adding that the decision was conveyed “orally” to the “relevant authorities after consultations” by the vice-chancellor’s office.

A similar decision to discontinue Shahid’s two poems, I see Kashmir from New Delhi at Midnight and Call me Ishmael Tonight, was taken by the Cluster University Srinagar, officials said.
Full report on The Wire site