Kashmir Pandits: Militancy, Migration and the Question of Resettlement

Abstract

Thirty years have already passed ever since the Kashmir Pandits were driven out of the valley. The high tide of militancy in the valley in 1989-90 made life difficult for the Pandits to migrate to Jammu. To escape the militancy-related aggression, they found their destiny cramped in makeshift tents in different refugee camps and later in the govt-given one room tenements (ORTs) at the outskirts of Jammu. Being an enterprising community many Pandits gradually reorganized themselves exercising their unique existential grit the 'courage to be'. The abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 by the current ruling dispensation at the centreseems to have engendered some hope of possible return for the Pandits to rebuild their deserted houses in the valley. But the growing resentment in the valley over the removal of Article 370, curfews, seizure of communication, prolonged lockdown for covid pandemic and poor economy and its angry political leadership and their Gupkar confederacy and the bouts of militancy complicate the environment appearing antithetical to possible resettlement of the Pandits in the valley. Therefore, this article examines the causality and the consequences of the event of mass migration of the Kashmir Pandits from the valley in 1989-90, and the Pandit destiny being refugees locked in the camps and later ORTs at the outskirts of Jammu, and the Pandit aspiration of return as they hold the right to return and exercise their autochthonous claim, and the need for an inter-community dialogue for peaceful coexistence.