Indigenous status is a special recognition given to communities who are the original inhabitants of a particular region, ensuring their unique cultural, historical, and territorial rights are protected. Across the world, indigenous communities are granted legal safeguards to preserve their heritage, secure their land, and maintain their distinct identity. This recognition helps prevent demographic extinction, protects their religious and cultural institutions, and ensures fair political representation. In India, indigenous status has been granted to various communities, particularly in the Northeast, to safeguard their rights and traditions. The same recognition is not only justified but essential for Kashmiri Pandits, who are the original inhabitants of Kashmir and have suffered forced displacement, cultural erosion, and systematic marginalization.

The demand for indigenous status for Kashmiri Pandits is not just about legal recognition. It is about justice, identity, and the survival of a civilization that has flourished for thousands of years. Kashmiri Pandits are the original inhabitants of Kashmir, the custodians of its ancient knowledge, traditions, and spiritual heritage. Despite being the true sons and daughters of the soil, they have faced centuries of persecution, culminating in their mass exodus in 1990. Their displacement is not just a tragedy but an erasure of history, a forced separation of a people from their own roots.

Across the world and even in India, communities that have faced historical injustices and displacement have been granted indigenous status to protect their cultural and civilizational rights. In Assam, indigenous status has been conferred upon communities to safeguard their land, traditions, and representation. If this recognition is justified for those who share space with dominant populations, then how much more essential it is for Kashmiri Pandits, who have been entirely uprooted from their homeland, their homes taken over, their temples defiled, their very existence in the land of their ancestors nearly erased.

Kashmiri Pandits are not migrants; they are not refugees in their own country. They are the descendants of an unbroken lineage that has lived in Kashmir for over 5,000 years. Their presence in the valley is recorded in the Nilamata Purana, the Rajatarangini, and countless historical and religious texts. They built Kashmir’s temples, nurtured its philosophy, and contributed to its governance and intellectual progress. Yet, through waves of invasions, forced conversions, massacres, and targeted ethnic cleansing, they were turned into an unwanted people in their own homeland. The exodus of 1990 was not an accident of history; it was a deliberate, systematic attempt to wipe out the last traces of an ancient civilization.

Despite their displacement, Kashmiri Pandits have never severed their bond with their land. Even after being scattered across India and the world, their hearts remain in Kashmir. But without official recognition as the indigenous people of Kashmir, they continue to be treated as outsiders in their own land. They have no political representation, no exclusive rights over their heritage, no say in the governance of Kashmir. Their temples are encroached upon, their lands occupied, their names erased from official records. Their history is being rewritten, their sacrifices forgotten, their pain ignored.

Indigenous status is not just a demand but a necessity for the survival of the Kashmiri Pandit identity. It is a shield against complete extinction. It will ensure that their language, culture, religious sites, and historical contributions are protected. It will guarantee their political representation, their rightful place in the decision-making processes of Kashmir. It will provide them with legal safeguards to reclaim their encroached lands and preserve their centuries-old spiritual and cultural institutions. Most importantly, it will give them the dignity of being recognized as what they truly are—the first and rightful inhabitants of Kashmir.

This is not about privilege; it is about survival. It is about correcting a historic injustice. The government of India has recognized the indigenous status of various communities in Assam and the Northeast. The United Nations affirms the rights of displaced indigenous peoples across the world. Kashmiri Pandits have a far greater historical claim to such recognition. Their demand is not only reasonable but overdue. If India values justice, if it believes in the principles of human rights, then it must acknowledge Kashmiri Pandits as the indigenous people of Kashmir.

For too long, successive governments have ignored their plight. Political parties remember them only during elections, seeking their votes but offering nothing in return. They are asked to participate in democratic processes but given no guarantees of representation or safety. They are told that Kashmir is incomplete without them, yet no steps are taken to ensure their dignified and secure return. The silence of the valley does not mean that the wounds of 1990 have healed. It only means that the voice of justice has not yet been heard.

Kashmiri Pandits will not give up their struggle. Their demand for indigenous status is a demand for recognition, for restoration, for respect. It is a demand that must be met before it is too late, before their history is erased completely, before their connection to their land is lost forever. Kashmir belongs to them as much as they belong to Kashmir. And they will continue to fight until they are restored to their rightful place in the land of their ancestors.”

[Kundan Kashmiri]
Kashmir watcher & President, Kashmiri Pandit Conference (KPC)
Mobile No: 8802167955
Email: kundankashmiri@gmail.com