Islamabad, Dec 14 (IANS): Pandit Ravi Shankar will be missed most in his motherland India, said a Pakistani daily Friday, adding that the sitar had been silenced forever.

"Never again will we hear the magical notes strummed by the maestro, Ravi Shankar, who made the instrument come alive," said an editorial in the News International following Ravi Shankar's death in a US hospital Wednesday.

The daily said it was doubtful that we would see a sitarist of his calibre again.

"There is none among his contemporaries who can come close to his musical genius and fewer and fewer young musicians appear to be taking up the instrument. Shankar's own daughter is an exception."

Paying rich tribute to him, the editorial said that Ravi Shankar was not just a great sitarist, he was also an innovator.

"He worked with the Beatles in the 1970s and other famous western musicians, making his mark on the western world. Shankar performed in halls packed with enthralled audiences in London, Canada, the US, Australia and many other countries. Now the maestro's music will never reverberate in these halls again."

The daily went on to say that he would be missed most in his motherland India, particularly in Bengal.

"His music is deeply associated with the soil of the land; with the changing seasons, its moods and its movies - such as The Apu Trilogy of Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray that ranks among the greatest films of all time."

It added that Ravi Shankar's death also "reminds us of how classical music, especially in its instrumental form, has declined in our own land. We must make efforts to revive it to produce once more the magic of sounds linked with our culture".