Mohammad Younis
Sopore: A well known educationist, heritage lover and vice president of Adbee Markaz Kamraz Jammu and Kashmir Atiqa Bano (Atiqa Behan) passed away on Wednesday evening at Sopore after prolonged illness. She was 76.
Popularly known as Behenji, she was indisposed for long time battling cancer. She was operated upon in February and had recovered but her condition deteriorated in past few days. She passed away at her Sopore residence on Wednesday evening.
Atiqa had retired as Director Libraries and Research and held important posts in Education department where she served as a Joint Director. She contributed ‘hugely’ to the education set up and was considered to be a tough administrator.
A heritage and language lover, Atiqa founded first of its kind heritage museum in private sector called Meeras Mahal at Sopore. She also founded a chain of education institutions and contributed a lot in empowerment of women.
She was also a founder of Majlis-un-Nisa the first ever women exclusive organisation in north Kashmir. As vice president of AMK, Atiqa played an important role in shaping up its language movement. She brought a change in the organisation by leading group of women who became equal partners in the movement.
She is also an owner of kashmiri weekly newspaper soun meeras.
Today Hundreds attend last rites of Atiqa Behan G at her ancestral place of ITI Jalalabad Sopore.
