Srinagar, Nov.29 (ANI): A newspaper in the regional language of Kashmir is gaining popularity among the local people and young scholars here, as it is being widely perceived to serve to the growth of Kashmiri language.

Local residents here believe that such a newspaper could revive the entity of their regional language, which suffered neglect for many years.

Within a few years of publication, ‘Sangarmaal’ newspaper has become a favourite of a lot of Kashmiris here. It is valley’s own Kashmiri news weekly.

“Sangarmaal newspaper has served the purpose of preserving the cultural heritage of Kashmir since the day it was first published. It is a sad that this is the only newspaper that circulates in the region. There should be more newspapers in our regional language. Language decides the identity of a person and a region. I want more newspapers like this,” said Shahnawaz, a local.

According to Khursheed Qureshi, Senior Editor of Sangarmaal, the locals are very happy to read a newspaper in their regional language.

“At first we thought that only a handful of people would read the newspaper, but we were pleased to see so many people reading our newspaper. The locals are very happy to read a newspaper in their regional language. This is the first newspaper that has been introduced in the regional language,” said Khursheed Qureshi.

Initially, the publishers had to face difficulties, as only the manuscript writers knew the art of writing Kashmiri language, but nowadays, with development of software it is easy to pen down the news.

Media in Kashmir valley has witnessed a boom since the insurgency broke. There are more than 360 being published in the valley among which 26 are in Urdu, 16 in English and the rest in other languages. (ANI)