Share your story and shine at JK Monitor!🌟 Welcome to JK Monitor, where every story matters and every achievement is celebrated! We invite you to share the remarkable journey of your life and showcase your accomplishments to the world. Join our exclusive interviews that honor exceptional individuals just like you. JAMMU: We welcome the decision to reopen terror-related cases that were previously closed due to lack of evidence or institutional will. This long-overdue move marks a crucial step towards justice for victims of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir—including the assassination of retired High Court Judge Neelkanth Ganjoo and the brutal massacre of 23 Kashmiri Pandits in Wandhama, Ganderbal, in January 1998.
The reopening of these cases—especially the heinous murder of Justice Ganjoo—is a belated but necessary action. Justice delayed must not be justice denied. Had the government of that era acted decisively, the tide of extremist violence might have been arrested in its infancy. Instead, impunity emboldened the perpetrators, leading to further atrocities.
We acknowledge that gathering evidence and locating witnesses after more than three decades poses significant challenges. It is precisely for this reason that we urge the constitution of a High-Powered Commission of Inquiry, modelled on the Nanavati Commission that investigated the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. This commission should be headed by a sitting or retired Supreme Court judge, preferably by a Lady justice and equipped with clear and expansive terms of reference.
The scope of the commission must include:
1. Investigating the causes and progression of the targeted killings and communal violence against Kashmiri Pandits between 1986 and 1990, and beyond.
2. Establishing a comprehensive sequence of events, identifying actors, networks, and motives behind these crimes.
3. Assessing whether the violence could have been prevented, and examining any lapses, complicity, or dereliction of duty by responsible individuals or authorities.
4. Evaluating the adequacy of administrative responses at the time.
5. Recommending concrete legal and institutional measures to ensure justice, accountability, and deterrence.
6. Considering other relevant matters that emerge during the course of inquiry.
This is not just a call for justice—it is a call for national conscience. The commission’s findings can serve as the basis for legal action, historical reckoning, and a framework for truth and reconciliation.
This demand is also aligned with the observations made by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, who recognized the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits not as voluntary migration but as an outcome of targeted terror. His call for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission must not remain a rhetorical ideal—it should be translated into concrete institutional action.
Former MLC and BJP spokesperson Girdhari Lal Raina (GL Raina) and BJP leader Rajni Sethi, in a joint statement, appealed to the Lieutenant Governor-led administration to act without delay. Justice for victims of terrorism cannot be postponed further. A commission with clear legal mandate and moral authority is essential to begin the process of healing and accountability.
