Kashmir’s Unfinished Return: Justice Denied For 36 Years
Kashmir's pluralism fractured in 1990. Healing it is the unfinished and urgent business of our democracy. It is long past time to restore it
Thirty-six years. That is how long Kashmiri Pandits have lived as exiles in their own motherland, stripped of home, hearth, and the political will that should have protected them. They did not leave voluntarily. They fled under terror, targeted threats, and a catastrophic collapse of state protection in January 1990. Yet decade after decade, the response from governments in Srinagar and Delhi has been packages, promises, and platitudes while the Valley they love remains beyond reach.
On April 1, 2026, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah addressed the Assembly with rare candour. He acknowledged that migration occurred under extraordinarily difficult circumstances after security collapsed and affirmed that return cannot be expected unless genuine safety is fully restored. His pledge to legislate protection for Hindu shrines was a welcome signal. So was his recognition of a quiet, enduring truth: ordinary Kashmiri Muslims never abandoned their Pandit neighbours in spirit, even when political structures failed both communities. That truth deserves not merely acknowledgement, it demands amplification.
The policy record is long. From the 1990s emergency relief to anti-distress-sale legislation in 1996; from 3,000 government jobs and transit accommodation in 2008 to the ₹6,000 crore PM Development Package of 2015; from 6,000 Valley flats now 68 percent complete to ongoing MHA reviews, each government has constructed a ladder for return. Yet actual returnees barely number 4,000. The gap between policy and people is not administrative. It is political. Security protocols remain porous. Anonymity protections are inadequate. Community trust has not been structurally rebuilt.
PDP legislator Agha Syed Muntazir Mehdi's reintegration bill presents every party a historic, non-partisan opportunity. His appeal to NC, BJP, and all formations to rise above political divides is not rhetoric; it is moral clarity. Farooq Abdullah calls Pandits "Always Welcome." Mehbooba Mufti calls their return "key to lasting peace." Without legislation, security architecture, and genuine cross-party consensus, these words remain hollow. Let this be stated plainly: Kashmiri Pandits are not a vote bank, not a BJP narrative, not a Congress sympathy card. They are Kashmiris, and Kashmir remains constitutionally, culturally, and morally incomplete without them.
Stop managing the wound. Heal it. Enact the law. Restore safety. Welcome them home not as displaced persons, but as the rightful children of this soil. Kashmir's pluralism fractured in 1990. Healing it is the unfinished and urgent business of our democracy. It is long past time to restore it.
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