By Sheikh Qayoom

Srinagar, Jul 7 (IANS): An old sign board, hung outside an old dilapidated building in uptown Koker Bazaar market of Srinagar city, has brought back memories of a famous Kashmiri family and a loving father who was proud of his daughters.

'Javed Sheikh & daughters, Koker Bazar, Maisuma, Srinagar'. This signboard has recently gone viral as it stands to prove that the countdown on gender bias had started in Kashmir at least 51 years back.

Javed Sheikh was the son of one of Kashmir's most respected and renowned businessmen, Sheikh Mohammad Amin.

The family had a timber empire in Kashmir and Javed was its sole owner. The family had palatial houses in Jammu city and in Srinagar.

A glimpse of the family's wealth lies in the lavish use of Italian marble in their Jammu house which was built much before Independence.

Javed Sheikh was married to Dilshad Begum Sheikh in 1969. She is the youngest sister of Bollywood actor, Feroze Khan. Her other two brothers are, actor/producer, Sanjay Khan and Akbar Khan.

Dilshad Begum is a known socialite in Kashmir and Delhi. She started her own clothing line called 'Chosen Few'.

The reason why she chose the name, according to Feroze Khan's son, Fardeen Khan, is because she is very selective about who she sells her clothes to.

Javed died in the mid 1980s. The couple has three daughters, Shahala, Sabah and Sheba.

Shahala stays with her mother in their uptown Rajbagh house in Srinagar during the summers and the two move down to Delhi and Mumbai during winters.

Shahala is the owner of famous furniture company 'Woodfort'. She is also an interior decorator and deals in high end Walnut furniture.

Sabah is an entrepreneur of a candle company called 'Illuminati' while Sheba is a housewife and mother of two kids.