Two Yardsticks for Terror Why No Probe for Kashmiri Pandit Massacres

 

The selective approach of the government-both the Union Territory administration of Jammu and Kashi and Cement Govemamiento terming in the Valley raises serious and unsettling questions, especially for the victimized exiled Kashmiri Pandit community Recently, a high-level investigation was promptly launched by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and other octal agencies into the tragic Pahalgam tourist killings, in which 26 innocent chiliasm lost their River in a brutal act of terror. This silt and strong response is commendable-acts of terrorism must never go unpunished. However, while this immediate action has drawn national and international attention, it also casts a harsh light on the glaring neglect of other equally horrific incidents-those iloving Kashmiri Pandits who were massacred, targeted, and driven from their ancestral land in one of the darkest chapters of India's post-independence Bestiary There is a deep and disturbing silence surrounding the massacres of Wand Hama (1995) Nadimarg (2003), Sangrampora (1997), Goole (1997), and numerous other incidents in which Pandit men, women, and even children were systematically slaughtered. Hundreds of targeted assassinations of Kashmiri Pandit intellectuals, government employees, and civilians occurred, particularly during the early 1990s. Yet, not one of these cases has seen comprehensive investigation or national-level prosecution. This raises a fundamental and disturbing question: When tourists and pilgrims are killed, the State responds with urgency and strength. But when the original sons of the soil are Indiaseminated and veiled, perso is definably Belayed. Why this disunity? Are Kashmir the Pandits not equal citizens of the Indian Republic is their blood, section, and pam not worthy of tonal attain, legal mores, and acknowledges? These are not menthetorical questioned bores ef emotion. They are legitimate crocems grounded in the Constitution and the very ades of India. Despite decades of appeals, protests, and representations by the Kashmiri Pandit community and its organizations, not a single Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted to probe the targeted killings. Ni Truth and Reconciliation Commission has been formed to document the genocide, displacement, and systemic cleansing of Pandits from Kashmir There has been to tabling of a white paper in Parliament of the J&K Anabel No serosa’s attempt has been made to record the history of those dark years through a national lens of accountability. Eyewitnesses from Nadimarg. Wand Hama, and Sangrampora continue to live in fear and obscurity, receiving nest her protection nor justice. The absenter of state action amounts to a second betrayal of a community already exiled from its roots The Constitution of India promises equality before law and equal protection under Article 14. But in Kashmir, postice seems to depend on political expediency. Those incidents that fit the stale narrative or serve electoral optics are pursued, others, like the massacres of Kashmiri Pandits, are shelved under the guise of normalcy and peace-building This dangerous selectivity is unjust-and corrosive to the democratic fabric of the nation India cannot afford to ignore the pain of its own abends or allow the blood of innocents to fade into silence, Justice cannot be a matter of convenience. If India claims to be a constitutional and moral democracy, it must prove it-by standing up for the truth, even when that truth is uncomfortable We the displaced and suffering Kashmiri Pandit community, once again raise our collective voice and demand the immediate constitution of an NIA-led or Judicial probe into the major Kashmiri Pandit massacres, beginning with Wandhama, Nadimarg, and Sangrampora. All intelligence and police records pertaining to Ale incidents must be declassified and made public. There must be a formal parliamentary discussion and a resolution acknowledging the genocide and displacement of Kashmiri Pandits, Above all, we seek justice not in words or sympathy, but through court proceedings, the identification of perpetrators, and their prosecution under Indian law While we welcome the government's timely response to the Pahalgam killings, we are compelled to ask why have similar steps never been taken for the massacres, loot, and systematic destruction suffered by the Kashmir Pandit community since 1989-90 and beyond? This is not merely a legal issue-it is a test of the nation's conscience History is watching. The youth of the country is watching. The world is watching. Let not the selective silence of institutions become the final verdict in this chapter of Indian democracy. The blood of innocent Kashmiri Pandits cries not for ceremonies or symbolic gestures but for real investigations, legal action, and final justice. Justice delayed is justice denied. But justice repeatedly denied is justice buried. And the Indian Republic cannot afford to bury the truth of what happened to its own citizens in the land of Kashmir.

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Courtesy: Kundan Kashmiri and Koshur Samachar- 2025, July