By: Kundan Kashmiri, Terrorist victim & President, Kashmiri Pandit Conference (KPC)

For more than three and a half decades, the indigenous Kashmiri Pandit community has lived in exile, uprooted, unheard, and unseen. Our ancestors’ land, our history, and our homes were snatched from us in the darkness of January 1990, when bullets replaced brotherhood and our blood marked the snow-covered streets of Kashmir. The pain of being pushed into forced exile, after centuries of peaceful co-existence, is not something that can be erased with temporary gestures or token sympathies. We were not just displaced, we were betrayed.

Today, amidst the manufactured silence of so-called peace in the Valley, a harsh and haunting truth remains. The same conditions, ideologies, and elements that drove us out still exist, unapologetic and unpunished. In such a scenario, the only dignified, safe, and sustainable path for the return of Kashmiri Pandits lies in the creation of a separate and secure one place settlement (separate Kashyap Bhoomi) within the Valley, a geographically concentrated, administratively empowered, and demographically safe area, aptly named Kashyap Bhoomi, after the great Rishi Kashyap, the spiritual founder of Kashmir.

This demand is not an act of separatism. It is an assertion of our fundamental right to survive with honour and security on our ancestral land. The return of the displaced community cannot be on the terms of those who celebrated our exodus. It cannot be under the shadow of past betrayal. It must be under a new architecture of trust, protection, and empowerment, guaranteed by the Constitution of India, enabled by the Government of India, and supported by a national consensus.

Time and again, experiments of return to old locations or in small, scattered clusters in Tehsil or Districts have failed. What did we gain from the ill-planned attempts to rehouse our PM package families in isolated corners of Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian, Ganderbal and Baramulla? Can we forget Wandhama, where our own brothers were butchered while offering prayers on a cold January night? Can we erase Nadimarg from our memory, where terrorists lined up 24 innocent Pandits, including women and children, and shot them dead despite the presence of security forces nearby? Can we ignore the horror of Sangrampora, where seven Pandits were murdered in cold blood, solely because they had dared to return?

And let us not forget the painful truth that the masterminds and perpetrators of these crimes still walk free,no action ,no FIR, many of them rebranded as mainstream politicians, social reformers, or ideological heroes. Who will guarantee that no new Bitta Karate will rise again? Who can promise us that another Yasin Malik, Syed Salahuddin, or Burhan Wani will not be born in the same neighborhoods and areas where our families would be asked to return? Is it not a mockery of justice to be told to trust the same society which once shouted “Raliv, Chaliv, ya Galiv” (Convert, Flee, or Die)? Can you co-exist with those who looted your property, set fire to your temples, celebrated your pain, and then claimed innocence?

Return to previous locations or tehsil/district-based clusters is nothing but a return to vulnerability. It divides our strength, exposes us to the same risks, and sets the stage for another catastrophe. It makes us dependent on a hostile ecosystem with no structural or emotional support. Worse, it fragments our voice and dilutes our distinct identity. It reduces us to scattered footnotes on a land that once echoed with our mantras, rituals, and festivals.

The idea of one place settlement (Kashyap Bhoomi) is not a utopia, it is a necessary, just, and logical response to the cruel lessons of history. In this sacred land, the Kashmiri Pandit community can rebuild its temples, its schools, its homes, and its soul. It can preserve its spiritual, linguistic, and cultural heritage, its ancient Shaivite philosophy, its Kashmiri language, and its treasured traditions. It can live as a politically empowered, economically viable, and culturally vibrant community. Above all, it can offer its children a safe future without fear, without shame, and without erasure.

Let it be clear, this is not a call for revenge. This is a plea for justice. We are not asking for charity. We are demanding our rightful place in the land of our ancestors. We want to return not as refugees under someone else’s mercy, but as rightful sons and daughters of the soil, with dignity in our eyes and freedom in our hearts. We want to contribute to the progress of the nation, not as broken victims, but as proud survivors who turned trauma into triumph.

One place settlement (Kashyap Bhoomi) will not divide Kashmir, it will heal it. It will stand as a testimony to India’s moral responsibility toward its first displaced citizens. It will be a model of coexistence built not on illusion but on guarantees. It will ensure that never again will a Kashmiri Pandit child have to ask why his home was burned, why his family lives in a migrant camp, or why his culture is being erased.

India owes this to us. History demands it. Justice commands it. The world must know that the Kashmiri Pandit community will never accept unsafe, scattered, and symbolic return. We have suffered too long, too deeply, and too unjustly to accept anything less than a complete, secure, and honourable restoration.

Our blood is on the soil of Kashmir. We are committed to return on our terms and conditions, to live together as a community in the Valley at one place. We will return to that place where we will not be slaughtered again, but to rise and triumph again.

One place settlement (Kashyap Bhoomi) is not a demand, it is our destiny. Let it be fulfilled. Let justice finally come home.

And if we do not get it today, then surely we will get it tomorrow. If we do not live there today, then surely our future generations and progeny will—safely, proudly, and happily. We, the whole victim community in exile, must remain tolerant, maintain patience, and not fall into traps or political gimmicks. Our struggle is righteous, our vision is clear, and ultimately, the win will be ours.