Professor Shafi Shauq, a 75-year-old poet, linguist and translator from Kashmir who was nominated for the Padma Shri Award, on Monday (January 26, 2026) said Kashmiri language is that of workers and peasants and will survive.
In an interview to The Hindu, Mr. Shauq, who hails from Shopian’s remote village of Kapran, said Kashmiri language will outlive the threats posed by the cyber era and English.
Full list of Padma Awards 2026
“Kashmiri language is the language of workers and peasants. Kashmiri language does not need a poet, a writer, a journalist or a language activist to survive. It’s a spoken language. It will survive in grief, sorrow and lament,” Mr. Shauq said.
He described the Padma Shri award, among the highest civilian honours in India, as “an acknowledgement of the richness of Kashmiri language, its antiquity and the importance it holds in the sub-continent and globally.”
