“As younger generations shift away from their mother tongue, Gurez’s community radio is using daily broadcasts to preserve Dard-Shina, promote local culture and inspire women”
Tauseef Ahmad
Srinagar, July 16: In the remote Gurez Valley, where the Kishanganga River cuts through snow-capped mountains and the centuries-old Dard-Shina language has long echoed across villages, a quiet cultural revival is taking shape. As younger generations increasingly shift to Urdu, Kashmiri and English in schools, workplaces and online spaces, many elders fear that Shina—once the valley’s strongest marker of identity—is slowly fading from everyday life.
Now, a community radio station tucked beneath the iconic Haba Khatoon peak is trying to reverse that decline.
The Sheena Gilgit Community Radio Station, the first radio station in Gurez’s Dawar area, has become more than a broadcasting centre. Airing most of its programmes in Dard-Shina, the station is preserving a language, documenting local traditions, spreading awareness about government schemes and encouraging women to take on public roles in one of Jammu and Kashmir’s most remote border regions.
“Our mission is to keep our language alive,” said one of the station’s radio jockeys (RJs) Wahida to Kashmir Despatch. “Just naming Shina is not enough. We have to speak it every day. That is why almost all our programmes are presented in Sheena. If we stop using it, the language will gradually disappear.”
Although nearly three-fourths of Gurez’s population speaks Dard-Shina as their mother tongue, many young people increasingly converse in Urdu or Kashmiri, particularly in schools and with visitors. Residents say tourism, migration, education and the growing influence of social media have contributed to the declining everyday use of the language.
Around 37,000 to 38,000 members of the Dard community live in Gurez Valley, and nearly all speak Dard-Shina as their native language. Across Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the number of native Shina speakers is estimated at around 50,000. The Dards have inhabited Gurez for centuries, and their language belongs to the Dardic branch of the Indo-Aryan language family.
Unlike Kashmiri, Dard-Shina has traditionally been an oral language, passed down through conversations, folk songs and storytelling rather than written texts. Linguists and local residents say this reliance on oral transmission, coupled with increasing use of Urdu and other languages among younger generations, has made Shina vulnerable to gradual decline. To help preserve the region’s linguistic and cultural heritage, the administration has established Shinon Meeras, a cultural centre in Gurez dedicated to documenting the Dard community’s history, traditions and language.
“My children understand Shina, but they usually reply in Urdu,” said Abdul Rashid, a resident and father of two from Dawar. “When they started listening to the radio, they became more interested in speaking our mother tongue at home. It reminds them that this language belongs to us and should not be forgotten.”
The station broadcasts four regular programmes—Good Morning Show, Hamnawa, Suhani Show and Mehakti Raatein. Three are entirely in Shina, while one is aired in Urdu so listeners outside Gurez can also understand the programmes.
Run by a team of five radio jockeys, including two women, the community radio station broadcasts a range of programmes designed to meet the everyday needs of people living in the remote border valley. Most of its content is produced in Dard-Shina and includes weather forecasts, public service announcements, government welfare schemes, agricultural advisories, health awareness programmes, tourism promotion and discussions on local culture. Supported by the Indian Army, the station has also created a platform for young voices by hosting two student-led programmes every week, inviting students from Army Goodwill School (AGS), Dawar, to anchor shows, interview guests and speak in their mother tongue. Station officials say the initiative is helping students build confidence while encouraging them to use Shina in public.
“The station has also emerged as a symbol of changing social attitudes toward women.”
Beyond music and entertainment, the broadcasts cover tourism, agriculture, environmental conservation, health, women’s welfare, weather advisories and government welfare schemes.
One RJ said the station has also become an important platform for promoting responsible tourism and environmental awareness.
“We constantly remind people that cleanliness begins at home,” another RJ Rohee told Kashmir Despatch. “Plastic should never be thrown into rivers or open spaces. Gurez is famous for its natural beauty, and protecting that beauty is everyone’s responsibility.”
The radio station regularly announces information about financial assistance programmes, weather alerts, farming advisories and government schemes aimed at women and rural communities.
“Earlier many people did not know which government schemes were available,” the RJ said. “Now we explain them in our own language so everyone can understand and benefit.”
The station has also emerged as a symbol of changing social attitudes toward women.
Another female RJ said that when she first joined the station, many people questioned whether broadcasting was an appropriate profession for women.
“When people first saw us working as RJs, they wondered what girls could do here,” she recalled. “Today, girls ask about vacancies because they have seen us and realised they can also work in the media. That change makes us proud.”
She said women from Gurez are increasingly becoming doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs and media professionals, challenging traditional stereotypes in the border valley.
The RJ also reflected on how improved connectivity has transformed opportunities for young people.
“Before 2019, communication facilities were extremely limited. Even filling an online application meant travelling outside Gurez,” she said. “Today we have internet access. Students can learn from home, develop new skills and connect with the world through their mobile phones.”
She, however, urged young people to use social media wisely.
“If used properly, the internet can help us study, learn new skills and compete with the rest of the world,” she said. “It depends on how we use it.”
As Gurez steadily gains recognition as one of Kashmir’s emerging tourist destinations, the voices coming from its community radio station are ensuring that visitors discover more than breathtaking landscapes. Through every broadcast in Dard-Shina, the station is helping preserve a language at risk of fading, strengthening cultural identity and giving a new generation—especially young women—a microphone to shape the future of their valley.
