Death keeps no calendar. It has separated numerous great legends from their great missions. However, death may kill the persons it cannot murder the missions they leave behind for others to follow.
Everyone in our Tangmarg area was shocked when the fateful news about the death of a great Wushu champion Jabeena Akhter reached the masses. Every death saddens us but the death of legendary personalities has more lasting effects. Particularly the death of those who live for the great causes in this world causes more remorse and grief. The same is the case with the death of this popular martial art figure whose chief aim was to make the Wushu martial art popular in our Valley. She was the first woman in Kashmir to have mastered the sport. Coming from a middle-class conservative family, Jabeena Akhter made a marvelous career in martial art and kept working hard for nurturing and developing the talent in the valley for which her life is an inspiration for many young girls particularly. She showed her great skill in the sport when she won the bronze medal in the International Wushu Championship held in Armenia in 2017. Taking her aim more seriously she ran her own academy for training the youth in Wushu martial arts. She had trained thousands of youth, particularly the girls in this self-defense martial art before her unfortunate death a few days ago.
Jabeena Akhter’s life is, no doubt, an inspiration for many youths whose aims are to realise the dreams that kick their souls. Her social activism and her tireless work for a number of welfare organisations were beneficial not only for her own area but the whole country. Her coaching skill in Wushu martial arts has been a blessing for many youths. She left the world after a brief but deadly illness and we have to pray for her peaceful afterlife. But her mission of making the self-defending art of Wushu more popular among the girls particularly must not end with her. That shall be our real tribute to this legendary personality.

Hilal Bukhari is a teacher and can be reached at [email protected]

Hilal Bukhari