The Lingering Pain of the Kashmiri Pandit Exodus

It has been more than three decades now since the unfortunate exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits began in January 1990.

- Upendra Kaul

The community's fault was that it did not identify itself with the azadi movement led by the masses in the Valley, who were challenging Indian sovereignty. It has been a sad story as militancy erupted, and there were targeted killings of some well-known and prominent Pandits, which resulted in fear for life among members of the community. The State apparatus also failed to control militancy and provide security to the minorities in the erstwhile state, and approximately 100,000 to 140,000 of the total Pandit population left the Valley for Jammu, the national capital region (NCR) and other parts of the country.

After all these years, the question of the Kashmiri Pandits' forced migration is very much alive in the discussions on the history of the Valley. The number of Kashmiri Pandits living in the Valley at present is not more than 4,000 to 5,000. Most Pandits have sold their properties and land, and have no roots left there. A large number of them have settled in different parts of the country. However, the people who had migrated from the villages are still languishing in townships made for them by the authorities on the outskirts of Jammu city. They keep on lamenting about the past.