Kashmiri Pandit Conference (KPC) has unanimously resolved to abstain from the upcoming Kashmir Assembly elections. This decision stems from decades of unmet demands and continued injustice faced by the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community. The flawed electoral process, which fails to address the long-standing grievances of the community, has prompted this decisive stand.

For over 35 years, the community has been forcibly exiled from its ancestral land, Kashyap Bhoomi, yet it remains abandoned and neglected by successive governments. Instead of recognizing their forced displacement as ethnic cleansing, the system continues to demean their identity by labeling them as “migrants” and denying their rightful place in Kashmir. Despite repeated appeals, the demand for a one-place rehabilitation plan in the Kashmir Valley has been met with indifference, further fueling the community’s frustration.

 

Kundan Kashmiri, President of KPC, voiced the collective outrage of the community, declaring, “Participation in this electoral farce would only serve to legitimize a political system that has utterly failed us. We refuse to be complicit in our own erasure.” He pointed out that the electoral process as it currently stands is nothing more than a façade, crafted to portray a false sense of normalcy in Kashmir, while the profound injustices inflicted upon the Kashmiri Pandit community remain unaddressed.

 

Kashmiri further emphasized that, for decades, Kashmiri Pandit votes have been exploited, manipulated, and used for political gain by those who care little for their plight. “Our votes are nothing but a political commodity, traded to serve the interests of those in power, while our voices remain silenced. We have become a captive vote bank with no real representation or respect.”

 

He stressed that a political system that refuses to acknowledge the ethnic cleansing of its own people cannot be deemed democratic. “By participating in these elections, we would be sending a message that our suffering no longer matters, that we have moved on—but we have not, and nothing has changed. Casting our votes under such circumstances would be tantamount to endorsing a system that has abandoned us.”

 

The meeting concluded with a firm resolution: that the Kashmiri Pandit community will abstain from the upcoming elections until their all demands are met .which includes ,. One-place rehabilitation at the land of Kashyap, ensuring the community can return to its Kashyap Bhoomi with dignity and safety, Acknowledgment of ethnic cleansings and genocide of Kashmiri Pandits. Grant of indigenous status as original inhabitants of the Kashmir Valley.

 

Restoration of their rights.,as equal citizens, including political representation.and other long-overdue issues connectioned with displaced overage KP youths, relief holders and PM package employees.

Until these fundamental issues are resolved, the KPC and the entire displaced community refuse to be pawns in a broken and exploitative political game.

 

“Media Cell ”

Kashmiri Pandit Conference

[KPC]

Contact: 880 2167955