FRAGRANCE OF IDEAS
On the occasion of their New Year’s Day, Kashmiri Pandits – the victims of genocide acknowledged the warm ‘Navreh’ greetings from PM Narendra Modi, MoH Amit Shah and President of BJP Nitin Nabin. Many other important dignitaries also conveyed their congratulations and greetings on the occasion, mostly through the regular media and the social media. It goes to the credit of those who conveyed their greetings and also to the credit of those who acknowledged them with graciousness, though undergoing their 37th year of exile.
The Kashmiri Pandits have been living as refugees in their own country continuously for 36 years. About them, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) declared in its decision in June 1999 that “acts akin to genocide were committed against the Kashmiri Pandits……and a genocide type design may exist in the minds and utterances of the militants and terrorists in Kashmir”. The Commission added that “the Kashmiri Pandits have not been given due understanding and relief that they deserved”.
The Delhi High Court, in its judgment, referred to their displacement as Ethnic Cleansing. The J&K High Court, in an important judgement, described the displacement of the Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir due to terrorism as “a migration that can’t be compared with any other migration. It was an unparalleled migration”. The Amnesty International, Global Human Rights Defence and several other human rights bodies expressed their disappointment with their displacement due to religious bias, terrorism and violence aimed at them.
The unfortunate part of the story is that they were neglected by their own governments in the state and also at the centre. Though they received a lot of attention, consequent upon their forced mass exodus, by the organizations like RSS, VHP, BJP and other nationalist organisations, however, this attention was limited to humanitarian support and assistance. What was lacking was the support at a political level, media and narrative level, and also helping them to get support for their survival issues.
Their human rights issues were consciously and deliberately given a twist by their own governments, political parties, the so-called intellectuals and human rights activists and a wrong & vicious narrative was created and spread about them, their life in the valley of Kashmir and the genocide that they were made victims of by the Islamic terrorism in and outside the valley.
It was viciously spread and propagandised during the 1990s that their displacement due to terrorism was just a ‘migration’ and they were officially called as ‘migrants’, which continues till date. No government showed any willingness to make corrections and call them the displaced officially, though people in the government would call them so by word of mouth. The NHRC was about to pass an order of recommendation to the government of India during the hearing of the genocide case that this author had filed with them to change their nomenclature to the “displaced”. But the government’s council sought time to get the government’s response to the suggestion, which had never come up before the NHRC Court.
True to the NHRC’s recommendations that “the Kashmiri Pandits have not been given due understanding and relief”, they became the victims of the State too. They faced not only the displacement due to their genocide, but they also faced dispersal and thus the dismemberment also as an indigenous community of Kashmir. They had to move from pillar to post for anything and everything connected with their survival and existence. It goes to the good fortune of the displaced community that some committed activists among the community itself strived hard to carry on the struggle of survival and the struggle of existence for the last almost four decades, and they continue to do the same despite difficulties, age and lack of resources.
While it is great to know that the Prime Minister has Kashmiri Pandit community in his thoughts particularly on the occasion of Navreh – the new year day festival of Kashmir that the indigenous people of Kashmir -the Kashmiri Pandits have been celebrating unabated for the last thousands of years of their civilization and history, there is also an urgent need to take up some important issues of concern. This is particularly so when the greetings have also come from the Home Minister and the President of the ruling party, the BJP, too.
Despite the constitutional and parliamentary sanction, the government has omitted to nominate 2 members from the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community to the J&K Assembly for the last one and a half years. The government in this regard should have been guided by the Supreme Court judgment regarding the nominations to the Puducherry Assembly. Moreover, no court in the country has stayed the nomination process in Jammu and Kashmir, yet there is silence on the issue. There is absolutely no thinking and action going on at any level in regard to the implementation of the parliamentary sanction of the provisions of the relevant Act.
Silence in this regard speaks of apathy, neglect and a biased mindset against the displaced community in J&K who stand unrepresented in the Assembly despite parliamentary approval to the J&K Reorganisation (Amendment) Act 2023. The Kashmiri Pandit community, though are electorally ‘insignificant’ due to their forced displacement from their homeland, however, they continue to be a very important political issue, which many vested interests would like it to be diluted from the socio-political map of the J&K UT.
Secondly, it is important to remind the Prime Minister about his solemn promises made during the election campaign in September 2024 to the displaced community. He promised to enhance the monthly relief to the relief-holders, but that promise stands unfulfilled to date. Now the issue has been pending for the last seven years, and the matter has also been recommended by the J&K government to the MHA for final approval, which requires the PM’s intervention and action on behalf of the Home Minister.
Similarly, after a long struggle of one and a half years by the Delhi-based displaced community, the Delhi government took a decision in regard to streamlining the AMR to the relief holders in Delhi. Now again, the matter has been pending before the MHA for the last six months, and there is no headway seen in this context. People who depend upon the AMR haven’t received the relief for almost two years now. A simple decision at the MHA level is taking months, and the suffering continues. Reminders after reminders have failed. Even the Delhi government and its administration have been following the issue, but there is no result forthcoming.
Over the last 35 years of exile of the community, various governments kept talking to the displaced community through their authorised representatives. In regard to the issue of Genocide, there is no word from the government on it. There has been complete silence for the last one decade in this connection. There should now be an open dialogue with the community in regard to all issues, including their resettlement in the valley of Kashmir directly by the government of India, and we appeal to PM Modi in this context to take such an initiative so that new vistas are opened. The community looks up to him with hope and expectation. They also look up to HM and the BJP President in this context.
The other issues also need urgent attention from the government/s and it is expected that both the central government and the UT government take appropriate initiatives. The J&K Administration, for the benefit of the displaced population, should implement all central schemes in favour of the displaced community in Jammu and Kashmir. In this respect, effective measures need to be taken in consultation with the government of India. Consultation processes should also be encouraged at the department level by the JK administration.
On the occasion of their New Year’s Day this time, the displaced community of Kashmiri Pandits have been greeted by a number of intellectuals, authors, film-makers, politicians and prominent activists too. This is a welcome change from the earlier scenario when many among the elite class would either ignore them or castigate them for no reason. Prominent author-intellectual cum scientist Anand Ranganathan’s tweet on X regarding Navreh is a poignant message focusing on the continued displacement of the Kashmiri Pandit community rather than a celebratory greeting.
It said on 20 March, 2026: “Dear Kashmiri Hindus, I want to wish you happy Navreh but every time I think of you, I think of the hollowness of my wishes, I think of how we failed you, I think of how 700,000 of you still cannot return to your homes, and so please accept not my wishes but my apologies. Sorry”. This is indeed tantamount to recognising the pain of the forced exile and expressing anguish for what we as a nation failed to do what we could have done for the last four decades.
We still have time to learn lessons, and both the government and society need to work jointly to address the long-pending issue of Kashmiri Pandits. However, the government holds the primary key to take the initiative, and it also holds accountability to its people who day in and day out support it out of turn. By ‘people’ here, the author means the Kashmiri Pandit community -the indigenous people of Kashmir….!
(The author is a senior BJP and KP leader, Human Rights Defender & columnist and can be reached at: [email protected])
