Kashmir’s Historic Documents are Covered With Poop…

Srinagar, Mar 4: The Archives Department in Kashmir houses some of the vital documents about Kashmir’s history, culture and heritage. But for the Jammu and Kashmir Government, they seem to be worth nothing, not even preservation.

A cursory look at Kashmir Repository, located inside the dilapidated building of the Archives Department in Old Secretariat here, is enough to reveal how bird droppings and dust have together taken sheen off Kashmir’s rich archival material, which observers believe includes “important, unique, and rare” documents and manuscripts.

Since March 2008, when this newspaper reported how bird droppings were consuming the rich documents, the Archives Department has just plugged the ceiling of the building in a bid to prevent entry of birds. But that is where it has ended, though observers had then strongly pleaded that the documents should be preserved, categorized and probably displayed for exhibition to let the people know about their past.

But, according to insiders in the Archives Department, nothing was done in this regard, except for making promises that something would be done. No cataloging and indexing has been taken up so far.