Kashmiri Pandit exodus an unresolved moral and civilizational tragedy: Sat Sharma

• January: A month of remembrance, resolve, and responsibility: Sat Sharma

NEW DELHI/JAMMU: For the Kashmiri Pandit community, January stands as a solemn reminder of an unresolved tragedy of ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, and civilisational loss that continues to demand justice, dignity, and moral courage more than three decades later, said J&K BJP President and Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) Sat Sharma CA.

Sat Sharma, while remembering the horrors for the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community, for whom, the month of January evokes memories of terror, displacement, and a prolonged erasure that continues to shape their collective existence more than three decades later. For Kashmiri Hindus—particularly Kashmiri Pandits—January marks the anniversary of a largely unacknowledged episode of forced displacement that remains unresolved to this day, he said.

Sat Sharma said that January is a month of remembrance: of targeted violence, ethnic cleansing, displacement, and a civilizational rupture that spans not merely decades, but centuries. “In 1989–90, Kashmiri Hindus were forced out of their homes through a campaign of systematic terror and intimidation. Assassinations, threats, and public calls for elimination made continued residence impossible. Entire neighbourhoods were emptied within weeks. This exodus was neither voluntary nor incidental; it bore the unmistakable characteristics of ethnic and religious cleansing under conditions of grave state failure”, he said.

Sat Sharma said that more than thirty-six years later, the wounds remain unhealed. He said that the trauma of displacement has been compounded by years of administrative apathy, political insensitivity, and institutional neglect that normalized suffering and reduced a humanitarian tragedy to routine governance.

“The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recognizes this pain and acknowledges the loss of roots, identity, and civilizational continuity suffered by the Kashmiri Pandit community. Kashmiri Pandits are civilizational anchors of Kashmir. Their absence is not merely a demographic anomaly—it is a civilisational deficit that weakens the pluralistic and cultural fabric of the Valley”, he said.

He said that the Kashmiri Hindu exodus is not a closed chapter of history. It is an unresolved case of internal displacement with profound implications for minority rights, cultural preservation, and transitional justice.

Sat Sharma stressed that the BJP remains firmly committed to the safe, secure, and dignified return and rehabilitation of the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community to the land of their ancestors. This commitment is accompanied by an unequivocal guarantee that such a tragedy will never be allowed to recur, and that the community will be able to live in Kashmir with honour, security, and equal rights, he added.

Sat Sharma said that any durable peace in Kashmir must confront this displacement honestly. He said that without justice for those uprooted, peace remains rhetorical, and pluralism remains conditional.  He said that an honest vision of peace in Kashmir cannot rest on symbolism or selective memory. He further said that it must be rooted in justice, dignity, accountability, and moral courage.