By: Kundan Kashmiri
Kashmir Watcher & President – Kashmiri Pandit Conference (KPC)

The forced exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990, no doubt , remains one of the darkest and most disgraceful chapters in post-independence India, when personal, cultural, and spiritual loss suffered by the Kashmiri Pandits is beyond measure. But , what remains under acknowledged, even by Kashmir’s majority Muslim population, is the deep, long-term damage that this exodus inflicted on Kashmiri Muslim society itself. This is the story of how Kashmir lost its soul while driving out its conscience.

Kashmiri Pandits were not just a religious minority; they were the intellectual spine, moral compass, and cultural guardians of the Valley. Their contribution to the social, educational, and administrative fabric of Kashmir was disproportionate, yet deeply stabilizing. They were the scholars, teachers, historians, doctors, engineers, civil servants, and artists who brought dignity, discipline, and vision to institutions and governance.

When the Kashmiri Pandits were hounded out, Kashmir’s education system collapsed into an ideological vacuum. Teachers who once inspired generations with knowledge, patience, and secular and human values were replaced not with educators, but often with indoctrinators. Schools and colleges lost not only academic excellence but also the spirit of balanced thinking, intellectual curiosity, and cultural plurality. A generation of youth was raised in echo chambers, where dissent was demonized and pluralism and humanism forgotten.

The economic loss was equally stark. Kashmiri Pandits were an essential component of Kashmir’s professional and entrepreneurial life, doctors, administrators, bankers, businessmen, shopkeepers, scientists. They infused the economy with ethics, trust, hard work, and entrepreneurial energy. Their exit created a vacuum that still echoes: stagnation replaced enterprise, dependence on external aid overtook self-reliance, and bitterness grew where harmony once prevailed. A culture of dependency and grievance silently replaced cooperation and productivity.

Culturally, the devastation was even more painful. Kashmiri Pandits were the carriers of ancient Shaivite traditions, Sanskrit literature, classical music, astrology, oral history, and spiritual poetry., ethos and ethics.They safeguarded the intellectual legacy of saints like Lal Ded and Abhinavagupta. When they were forced out, temples fell silent, manuscripts disappeared, spiritual discourse between Pandits and Sufi Muslims came to a tragic halt. Festivals lost their soul. Songs lost their meanings. The diverse cultural fabric of Kashmir was reduced to monotone.

The damage extended further into the moral and psychological fabric of Kashmiri Muslim society. The absence of Kashmiri Pandits created an unnatural social and emotional void. The neighbor, colleague, or friends who shared the same language, culture, and soil suddenly vanished. In their place emerged the figure of the “other”, an outsider, an enemy, a forgotten friend. Moderate voices within the Muslim community grew faint, while radicalism found fertile ground. The vacuum left behind became the breeding ground for intolerance and violence.

This social imbalance has cost Kashmir dearly. The decay of dialogue, the erosion of harmony, and the rise of violence are the bitter fruits of silence and complicity. The cherished “Nund Rishi–Lal Ded” tradition of spiritual coexistence and composite culture has been betrayed not only in letter but in spirit.

And in this moment of reflection, we victim Kashmiri Pandits raise an essential question to our Muslim brethren:
Those who encroached, looted, or illegally occupied our lands, orchards, homes, shops those who participated in killings , burning our properties or benefited from distress sales or draconian laws have they truly gained peace or prosperity? Can their children or their future generations ever prosper from such morally bankrupt actions committed against the aborigines of the Valley, the Kashmiri Pandits?
No, never. For such acts are condemned not only by the divine will of God, but by the conscience of humanity. What is taken unjustly never brings peace. What is built on pain and betrayal will crumble one day.

It is a bitter irony that some once celebrated the Pandits’ exit, and painful exodus,but now silently ask themselves.

Why is our society intellectually stunted?Why is extremism poisoning our youth?Why is our economy limping?Why do we feel hollow, despite the illusion of religious homogeneity?
Because you cannot build a stable house by burning one of its strongest pillars.

Even today, many shy away from confronting this truth. But the youth of Kashmir must rise above propaganda and prejudice. They must seek truth, not excuses. They must ask honestly: Did we gain anything by forcing out those who lived among us for thousands of years?
The truth is: Nothing was gained. Everything was lost wisdom, trust, knowledge, pluralism, dignity, humanity and a shared civilizational soul.

Let today’s Kashmir valley generation understand: that the Kashmiri Pandits are not outsiders. They are the original caretakers of the Valley, the aboriginal community of Kashyap Bhoomi. Their return is not a favour to them, but an obligation of justice. It is a restoration of balance a healing of the soul of Kashmir.

Only when the Pandits return with dignity, security, and constitutional guarantees and on their terms & conditions , can the wounds of the past begin to heal. Kashmir cannot rediscover its greatness by remaining blind to its own sins. It must remember what it was, who it lost, and why it fell. Only then can it rise not as a valley of betrayal and blood but as a valley of wisdom, oneness, and shared destiny.

Let the mirror of truth be held high.
Let the long silence be broken.
And let Kashmir finally , accept the sins, proclaim, with honesty and humility.

Let the victimized Kashmiri Pandits be rightfully given what they truly own, what they justly deserve, and what they deeply desire their land, their dignity, and their rightful place in their ancestral land , the Kashmir Valley.

Only then will Kashmir begin to cleanse the sins of that silent majority the very community that, through its indifference or complicity, became a spectator to the pain and enabled the forced exodus and ethnic cleansing of the original inhabitants of Kashmir, the Kashmiri Pandits.

     [Kundan Kashmiri]

Kashmir Watcher, Freelancer & President Kashmiri Pandit Conference (KPC)
Mobile: 8802167955