jj correspondent
Jammu, Apr 01: The Kashmiri Pandit Conference (KPC), led by its president Kundan Kashmiri, has welcomed the recent statement made by Honorable Lieutenant Governor Shri Manoj Sinha regarding the return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley. However, the KPC has reiterated that while the community is willing to return, this process must be carried out on their own terms, ensuring safety, dignity, and justice.
In a press statement, the KPC emphasized that the community’s return cannot be treated as a mere administrative formality. The group has endured grave injustices over the past 35 years, including genocide, ethnic cleansing, massacres, destruction of properties, forced land seizures, and distress sales. The KPC has demanded that the government recognize Kashmiri Pandits as the indigenous people of the Kashmir Valley, with full constitutional guarantees, protection, and restoration of their rights.
The KPC firmly stated that Kashmiri Pandits will only return as a consolidated community in a unified place where the government must provide security, legal protection, economic assistance, and ensure the preservation of their culture and traditions. They reject piecemeal returns or the return of scattered families as a form of rehabilitation, stressing that such actions cannot be seen as a collective return of the community.
The KPC has also called for a structured dialogue between the Government of India, the Government of Jammu & Kashmir, and the Kashmiri Pandit leadership to create a time-bound, concrete roadmap for their return. Before any rehabilitation process begins, the KPC demands the passage of a Genocide Bill and a Kashmiri Pandit Rehabilitation Bill in Parliament to officially recognize the atrocities committed against the community and ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice.
Among the key demands of the KPC are the restoration of properties seized or lost under coercion, compensation for losses endured over the past three decades, and financial grants for rehabilitation to help displaced families rebuild their lives. They also demand institutional safeguards to prevent any future persecution and the extension of government welfare schemes to displaced Kashmiri Pandits.
The KPC has expressed gratitude for the government’s commitment to extend benefits to PM package employees and urged for prompt implementation without delays. The statement concluded by reaffirming the KPC’s unwavering commitment to securing a just, dignified, and permanent resolution to the forced exile of Kashmiri Pandits.
Kashmiri Pandit Conference demands justice and dignified rehabilitation for community
