Just outside Pampore, lies a place that could rewrite how the world sees Kashmir.

The Guryul Ravine is just grey rocks, narrow paths, and dust. But beneath that rough surface lies a record of the planet's biggest extinction, a moment 252 million years ago when nearly all life disappeared.

Earlier this month, the government finally declared Guryul a national geo-heritage site. Scientists have been waiting for this for decades. The ravine is one of only a handful of sites in the world that show how life collapsed and began again.

For years, experts from Europe, Japan, and India studied its rocks to trace how Earth survived that catastrophe. Then the visits stopped. Turmoil, quarrying, and neglect buried the story deeper than any fossil could.

This new recognition gives us a second chance. A heritage tag can bring researchers, students, and even tourists back to the valley for the right reasons. It can show a side of Kashmir where life itself once rebooted. But that will happen only if the government acts fast to fence, restore, and interpret the site.

MENAFN01112025000215011059ID1110278700