Special Spiritual Time For Kashmir As Local Boy Develops Valley¡¯s First Offline Ramadan App

Bringing the much needed relief in the lives of Kashmiri Muslims that too in the holy month of Ramadan, a Srinagar based software engineer has developed valley¡¯s first online and offline Ramadan app.

The 22-year-old Haider Ali Punjabi has come up with the app titled - ¡®Iftarkar¡¯ to facilitate the people and this is winning him many hearts for the unique work.

Haider told Indiatimes that the idea stuck in his mind in the year 2020. ¡°First of all, it was COVID and there was no access to the newspapers so that you can get to see the Ramadan calendar. The valley was also witnessing the 2G Internet speed those days and there was no access to apps and websites, people were really suffering to find all the details pertaining to Ramadan,¡± he said.

Idrees Bukhtiyar

¡°Then I decided to set up the Ramadan website first and later it was followed by the app for which I have been receiving a number of requests to put it on Play Store,¡± he said.

¡°One of my friends in Turkey also informed me about such a facility there too which has caused ease in their lives,¡± he said.

What¡¯s In The App?

Haider said that when clicking on the app, it takes you directly to the ¡®Iftarkar¡¯ website. ¡°It has been built using the latest web development technologies, and will run smoothly on slower internet and supports offline use as well,¡± he said.

He said that the app has many features. ¡°First of all, it has the complete one month calendar of Iftari (evening meal) and Sehri (pre-dawn meal) timings available. We have also added the opening and closing prayers of fasting in it,¡± he said.

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Haider said that all stuff is available in multiple languages. ¡°It includes English, Urdu and Kashmiri,¡± he said.

A postgraduate student of Computer Application at Cluster University Srinagar, Haider said that he has been receiving a positive response from across the valley. ¡°I have been receiving the calls from the areas like Pulwama and Shopian which witness Internet shutdown, people were happy and finding it easy to access the necessary things on the app in Ramadan,¡± he said.

The app has more than one thousand downloads till now.

¡®Hackesta Software¡¯

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Haider said that Hackesta is an emerging name in the software programming community. ¡°I have been doing a lot of freelance work through it and have developed many websites and apps under its banner,¡± he said.

¡°I too have released many of my projects through its name,¡± he said.

Covid Kashmir

In 2020, Haider along with his two friends started a web portal titled ¡®covidkashmir.org¡¯ so as to keep a track on the COVID related data.

¡°We wanted to spread updated information about coronavirus cases as either people lose the old data or it isn¡¯t available online. But at this portal you can find the data up to till date. We had also updated the data related to the food delivery outlets those who opened in Covid for home delivery services, Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar helpline numbers and also medical aid facilities,¡± he said.

Other Work Done

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Haider is considered a prominent web developer in Kashmir and he has developed various other online apps and web portals. ¡°I set up ¡®Accher¡¯, a Kashmiri language wordle website and tweet2Pic app, a small tool which can be used to share your twitter tweets in the form of an image,¡± he said.

Haider said that he will work for his own place. ¡°I will develop all those things that are going to benefit my Kashmir and my people,¡± he said.

He believes that Kashmiri youth has a lot of talent. ¡°Be it any field, they are talented enough but all they need is a platform and support,¡± he said.

Haider hoped to work with more dedication so as to create more interesting and creative things.

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