Kashmir Watcher, Freelance writer & President KPC
The Phalgam massacre of April 22, 2025, has once again unmasked the brutal and inhuman face of terrorism emanating from Pakistan. This heinous act has triggered a wave of fury across India, leading to widespread war cries and rapid mobilization of forces on both sides of the border. The people of India, cutting across political and ideological lines, are demanding decisive action—not just against the foot soldiers of terror but also their masters within the Pakistan Army and its terror apparatus.
In this surcharged atmosphere, while the nation demands vengeance, an important and soul-searching question arises: will a war or escalation help the ignored, isolated, and exiled Kashmiri Pandits, who have been forced out of their ancestral homeland and left to suffer in endless misery for over three decades? It is crucial to answer this question with clarity, conviction, and foresight.
The Kashmiri Pandits, one of the oldest indigenous communities of Kashmir, were brutally uprooted in the early 1990s through targeted killings, threats, rapes, and organized terrorism. Despite being the original sons of the soil, they were abandoned by successive governments, marginalized by society, and forgotten by the very system that claims to uphold justice and secularism. Even today, after 35 years, they live scattered across India—in camps, colonies, and small settlements, still dreaming of return, dignity, justice, and restitution. Their core demands have remained constant: a safe and dignified one place settlement in Kashmir valley with writ of Indian constitution under absolute security, political empowerment and representation, restoration of their properties, rights, and culture, and justice for the genocidal crimes committed against them. Yet, these aspirations remain unmet.
In this backdrop, the current warlike situation following the Phalgam massacre presents a rare, powerful opportunity. A war or decisive military escalation could directly or indirectly benefit the Kashmiri Pandits in several ways. A war would aim to dismantle the terror camps, launch pads, and support networks operating in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and across the border. The elimination of anti India elements, Pak lobbies and proxies ,overground workers, supporters , separatists and cross-border terrorism is a sine qua non for creating a prosperous free terror Kashmir where minorities like the Kashmiri Pandits can think of returning safely. No terror-free Kashmir means no safe return of Pandits. Thus, a decisive defeat of Pakistan’s terror infrastructure is inextricably linked to Pandit resettlement together as a community in the valley..
A full-fledged war could even create a situation where India reclaims parts or all of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, which legally belongs to India. If that happens, it would erase the terror sanctuaries from where anti-India propaganda and attacks are launched, allow India to create a new, secure, demographically managed Kashmir, and pave the way for the return and rehabilitation of exiled Pandits not just in the Valley.. This would not just be a strategic victory but a civilizational and emotional triumph for the Kashmiri Pandits.
The nationalistic fervor created by war mobilization has the potential to rekindle serious attention toward long-ignored issues like the exile of Kashmiri Pandits. Just as the nation demands revenge for the soldiers and civilians killed in the Phalgam massacre, it can also demand justice and restoration for the Pandits. Massive public support could pressure the government to formulate a comprehensive resettlement and empowerment package, allocate exclusive, fully a secured area for Pandits inside Kashmir, and give Pandits political reservation and constitutional guarantees for their survival and dignity.
It would be naive, however, to assume that war alone will automatically solve the Pandit issue. Victory must be comprehensive and decisive, not symbolic or half-hearted. Post-war nation-building in Kashmir must prioritize displaced Kashmiri Pandits. The Government of India must not repeat past mistakes of forgetting Pandits once the immediate crisis passes. Thus, war must not be an end in itself. It must be part of a larger national strategy where the restoration of Kashmiri Pandits to their ” Kashyap Bhoomi “is declared a national objective.
Kashmiri Pandits were driven out solely because of their religious and national identity. Their exile is a permanent blot on India’s secular and democratic credentials. If a war is fought against the forces that engineered their genocide, then ensuring their return and justice becomes both a moral and strategic necessity. It is moral because no nation can call itself just while its oldest citizens remain refugees within its borders. It is strategic because the return of the Pandits would symbolically and practically defeat the separatist-terrorist ideology that sought to create a Kashmir without them. Thus, restoring the Pandits would be the final nail in the coffin of jihadist separatism.
To ensure that the current escalation benefits the Pandits meaningfully, the following steps must be taken immediately by the Government of India. It must declare the return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits as a national priority, carve out a secure zone ( one place settlement at the land of Kashyap) for Pandits in Kashmir with constitutional protections, establish fast-track courts to punish those involved in the 1989–90 genocide, create a Ministry for Displaced and Victimized Communities starting with Kashmiri Pandits, announce a massive economic package to rebuild Pandit culture, temples, and educational institutions in Kashmir, and guarantee political representation for Pandits in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, Parliament, and local bodies.
The Phalgam massacre is not just a terrorist act; it is a challenge to India’s sovereignty and national conscience. While a war or military escalation can deliver punishment to the enemies of peace, it must also be used as an opportunity to correct the historical wrongs suffered by the Kashmiri Pandits. A decisive India must not only defeat its external enemies but also heal its internal wounds. And the biggest internal wound remains the forced exile, isolation, and ignored existence of Kashmiri Pandits.
This time, the nation must fight not just for revenge, but also for restoration, justice, and redemption. Only then can we say, with honesty, that the sacrifices of our soldiers and martyrs—and the endless suffering of the Kashmiri Pandits—have not been in vain.
[ Kundan Kashmiri]Kashmir Watcher, Freelance writer & President Kashmiri Pandit Conference ( KPC )
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