Artificial Harmony Won’t Heal Real Wounds: KP Return Without Truth and Justice Is an Illusion.

[ Kundan Kashmiri]

Voice of KP community, Kashmir Watcher, President KPC The idea of social cohesiveness between the victim Displaced Kashmiri Pandit community, particularly its youth, and Kashmiri Muslims is frequently projected as achievable, even “work in progress,” by governments, administrations, agencies, and certain self-appointed peace facilitators and agents,. However, this narrative collapses the moment it is examined against history, facts, and lived reality. The Kashmiri Pandit community did not leave the Valley voluntarily; it was subjected to a systematic campaign of targeted killings, mass intimidation, religious persecution, destruction and burning of homes, encroachment and snatching of land, erasure of livelihood, and the brutal denial of constitutional and human rights. What occurred was not an accidental disturbance but a forced exodus that permanently altered the social fabric of Kashmir. Thirty-six years later, the community remains displaced, fragmented, and unheard, while justice remains elusive.In such circumstances, the question is not whether social cohesion is desirable, but whether it is realistically possible without first addressing the foundational injustice that caused the rupture. Trust cannot be expected from a community that has never received accountability for massacres, assassinations, sexual violence, or mass displacement. No comprehensive truth-telling process has taken place, no credible judicial closure has been achieved, and no sincere societal acknowledgement has emerged. The resulting trust deficit is neither imagined nor exaggerated; it is rooted in experience. Displaced Kashmiri Pandit youth, many of whom were born and raised in exile, have grown up absorbing stories of fear, betrayal, loss, and institutional abandonment. For them, the Valley is not merely a geographic space but a site of unresolved trauma. Expecting emotional integration under these conditions is not reconciliation, it is insensitivity.Governments and their agencies may formulate policies, issue assurances, or construct housing clusters, but emotional healing and social trust cannot be engineered through administrative orders. Peace cannot be reduced to files, seminars, or slogans. Even today, the basic conditions required for dignified return remain absent: there is no foolproof security framework, no comprehensive restoration of properties illegally occupied or destroyed, no economic ecosystem capable of absorbing educated youth as per their skills and choices, no cultural or political safeguards that guarantee non-repetition of history. Without these, calls for togetherness ring hollow and risk deepening alienation rather than healing it.It is also necessary to address those who claim they are actively working toward social cohesion and brotherhood between the two communities and who project success or near-success in this endeavour.that symbolic interactions, selective narratives, staged dialogues, or project-driven engagements cannot be presented as indicators of genuine reconciliation. Social harmony is not measured by photographs, conferences, or funded peace initiatives; it is measured by justice delivered, fear removed, dignity restored, and trust rebuilt at the grassroots. In the continued absence of restitution, security, employment dignity, and acknowledgement of wrongdoing, such claims remain premature and misleading. Good intentions, however well advertised, cannot substitute for truth, nor can reconciliation be imposed without the informed consent and confidence of the victims. Peace that ignores pain does not heal society; it merely silences suffering.The Kashmiri Pandit youth question remains central to this debate. This generation is not merely unemployed or underemployed; it is uprooted and psychologically burdened by inherited injustice. Asking them to “move on” without restoring what was taken from their families is effectively asking them to erase their own history. At the same time, the absence of an honest societal narrative acknowledging the Pandit tragedy has created an asymmetry of memory, making genuine cohesion even more difficult. Social cohesiveness cannot precede justice, and trust cannot grow on the soil of unresolved crimes.The return of Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley, if it is to be meaningful and sustainable, must be victim-centric, condition-based, and justice-oriented. It cannot be driven by optics, election compulsions, or artificial harmony projects. Until truth is acknowledged, justice delivered, security guaranteed, and dignity restored, any attempt to forcibly bring communities , in particular Youths , together will remain an illusion rather than a solution. Reconciliation is a consequence of justice, not its substitute.Author: SEVAK [Kundan Kashmiri]. Voice of KP community, Kashmir Watcher Freelancer & President – Kashmiri Pandit Conference (KPC)