Voice of Kashmiri literature Amin Kamil dies at 90

Famous writer and poet Amin Kamil, who gave a new direction to Kashmiri Ghazals and stories, passed away on Thursday morning. He was 90 years old.

Born in 1924 in a small village named Kaprin in South Kashmir's Shopian district, Kamil moved to Srinagar when he was a youth. No one knew then that this boy from a far-flung region of Kashmir would become a legend of Kashmiri literature.

Kamil's unique style of writing that blends irony, humour, social comment and politics in his stories as well as poems made him shine. He wrote in Urdu before switching to using Kashmiri as his medium of expression. Many Kashmiri poets were influenced by Kamil and tried to adapt his diction.

Kamil's contribution to the field of fiction by his novel Gati Manz Gaash (Light amidst darkness), published in 1958, was inspired by the condition of Mahatma Gandhi in the aftermath of the country's partition where he found a ray of hope in Kashmir while the entire nation was in darkness. This novel is the only book in Kashmiri literature which has records of the country's historical events.

Apart from ghazals and short stories, Kamil has written many plays and musicals for radio. His works majorly reflect on human life in Kashmir.

Kamil is the recipient of many prestigious awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award​, the Padma Shri from the Indian government and Kashmir University's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Kamil's demise is an irreparable loss to the field of literature.