Dr. Syed Nazir Gilani
Ashraf Qureshi was around 17 on 30th January 1971 when he left Kashmir and landed at Lahore airport. He died on 2 February 2012 at the age of 60 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. It is not clear whether he had any close friend around him in whose ear he could have whispered “The hour of departure has arrived and we go our ways; I to die, and you to live. Which is better? Only God knows.” (Socrates). He was one of the two most important passengers on the hijacked Indian Airline plane “Ganga”. Hashim Qureshi another important passenger was in his late twenties. He may also have wished to tell someone how a Geologist became a teacher (scholar) of Kashmiri language at the University of Punjab.