Bilal Veeri CNI
It is truly heartbreaking and shocking that even after 35 years of displacement, some of the most victimized and peace-loving families of the Kashmiri Pandit community continue to face humiliation, injustice, and total neglect. The story of nine displaced Pandit families from the village of Tikker in district Kupwara, Kashmir, is one such horrifying tale that must awaken the conscience of the nation and its leadership.
These families, uprooted from their ancestral homes in the early 1990s due to terrorism, have now suffered the ultimate betrayal—not from militants, but from the very government that was meant to protect their rights.
Without notice, without consent, and without any legal or moral justification, the entire land—65 kanals in total—belonging to these families has been forcibly taken over by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir. Of this, 25 kanals were handed over to the Beacon Department, and the remaining 40 kanals were given to All India Radio. This land was not some encroached territory. It was ancestral, legal, and registered land—held, cultivated, and preserved by generations of Pandits who once lived with dignity in Tikker.
The nine families—
1.Somnath Padroo
2.Makhan Lal Padroo
3.Late Radha Krishan Padroo
4.Late Madusudan Padroo
5 Prithvi Nath Bhat
6.Kanaya Lal Raina
7.Jia Lal Peshin
8.Shamboo Nath Peshin
8.Neelkanth Peshin.
They never agreed to sell their land. Yet, the local administration, without their verbal or written consent, handed over their land to these departments and fixed a paltry compensation rate of just Rs. 1.5 lakh per kanal—while the actual market value runs into crores.
These families knocked on every possible door. They approached the National Human Rights Commission, but were shown no results. They petitioned the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, pleading that their land not be sold, and that the rate fixed was a cruel joke. But the High Court dismissed their petition, upholding the administration’s decision. In a further blow to their hopes, the Supreme Court too refused to intervene.
They then met the Hon’ble Lt. Governor of J&K and submitted that they want their land back, not this injustice packaged as ‘compensation’. But sadly, even the Lieutenant Governor chose silence over justice.
Today, these families are shattered. Their ancestral homes were destroyed in the 1990s. Their land—the last symbol of identity, dignity, and survival—has now been officially snatched from them. They are left landless, homeless, hopeless.
They are now appealing directly to the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi Ji, with folded hands. “Modi Ji is our final hope,” they say. “Let us meet him once. We will accept whatever decision he makes after hearing us. But at least, give us the dignity of being heard.”
No political party, no politician, no activist has raised their voice for them. Instead, they have been ignored, demoralized, and silenced.
This is not just a legal issue—it is a humanitarian tragedy, a constitutional betrayal, and a moral failure. If the nation fails to stand by these displaced sons of the soil, then what remains of our democracy, our justice system, and our promise of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas?
I, Kundan Kashmiri, Community Sevak and President of Kashmiri Pandit Conference (KPC), urge the Hon’ble Prime Minister to grant these families an audience. Justice delayed has already become justice denied—but let us not allow justice to be buried.
Let the voice of Tikker’s lost children be finally heard.
Contact:
Kundan Kashmiri
Community Sevak & President, Kashmiri Pandit Conference (KPC)
Mobile: 8802167955
Email: kundankashmiri@gmail.com