Dignified Return of Displaced Kashmiri Pandits A Priority: L-G Manoj Sinha
Highlighting the “sweeping changes” underway in the Union Territory, Sinha said that J&K has been undergoing a profound transformation since 2019
SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, on Thursday reiterated that the government remains firmly committed to ensuring the dignified and secure return of displaced Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley—three and a half decades after they fled their hearth and home en masse amid the violence of the early 1990s.
Speaking at the launch of ‘Kashmir – Nativity Regained’, authored by Prof. Ashok Kaul in Jammu, Sinha emphasised, “The return of Kashmiri Pandits with full dignity and security is the commitment of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.”
Highlighting the “sweeping changes” underway in the Union Territory, Sinha said that J&K has been undergoing a profound transformation since 2019. He asserted that the “sinister plot of the adversary to destroy the dreams and destiny of the people of the UT has been decisively dismantled.” According to him, sustained efforts have restored the region’s ancient cultural glory and accelerated development. “Very soon, this soil will be completely freed from the scourge of terrorism,” he added.
The book delves into the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits, “capturing the terror of those dark days and the enduring trauma of being uprooted from ancestral homes”. Sinha described the work as more than a literary contribution—calling it a courageous attempt to break the silence that has long overshadowed collective memory.
Paying tribute to the resilience of the Kashmiri Pandit community, Sinha said, “I salute the indomitable spirit of the community. Every displaced family carried within them a living ember of Kashmir. In the crucible of struggle and adversity, they preserved philosophy, spirituality, culture, language, and traditions. Even in agony, they unearthed possibilities and scaled new pinnacles of success.”
He noted that in 2021, the administration launched the Kashmiri Migrant web portal to facilitate the recovery of houses and land belonging to displaced families that had been encroached upon over the years. Reflecting on the magnitude of their suffering, he said, “Among the world’s gravest sorrows is the agony of becoming a stranger on one’s own soil. This is precisely what transpired in Jammu and Kashmir. The anguish of the 1989–90 massacre runs so deep that even time has failed to fully heal it.”
Sinha stressed that the terror ecosystem in J&K had long attempted to bury the truth, but the memories of those who suffered cannot be erased. He also reminded the audience that Pakistan-backed militants had claimed the lives of thousands of innocent Kashmiri Muslims as well. “The younger generation must never forget that Pakistan-backed terrorists have also spilled the blood of thousands of innocent Kashmiri Muslims. Many cases are so heartrending that words falter in their retelling. Justice has begun flowing to those families since last year, with efforts underway to fulfil their employment needs alongside other essentials,” he said.
Reflecting on the constitutional changes of August 2019, the Lt. Governor said that the abrogation of Article 370 under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi restored faith that the younger generation of Kashmiri Pandits could reclaim their roots without fear. He added that Prof. Kaul’s book stands as a powerful reminder of the community’s resilience and its central place in the narrative of J&K. “This is an era of reconstruction. Through his words, Prof. Kaul proclaims to the world that the Kashmiri Pandit community is at the very heart of J&K’s story,” he said.
