Srinagar, Aug. 11 -- Srinagar- Kashmir lost on Tuesday a member of a generation whose lives were deeply intertwined with the Valley's political and social history, with the passing of prominent civil society activist and engineer Mohammad Anwar Ashai at his residence in Rajbagh.

Ashai, scion of the distinguished Ashai family of downtown Srinagar, was widely mourned across social, religious, political and civil society circles. He was remembered by friends and contemporaries as a widely read, articulate and socially conscious person whose interest in Kashmir's history, politics, education and contemporary affairs remained undiminished until the closing years of his life.

He was the son of the late Khwaja Ghulam Ahmad Ashai, a pioneering ...