A Historic ray of Justice for KPs Presidential Recommendation on Vivek Tankhas Bill rekindles hope for displaced Kashmiri Pandits

 

For over three and a half decades, the Kashmiri Pandit community has endured the agony of forced exile-its collective life shattered by terrorism, religious cleansing, administrative apathy, and the glaring silence of the nation. The trauma of being violently uprooted from the sacred land of our ancestors remains etched in the soul of every displaced Pandit. Despite this unparalleled suffering, the community has shown unshakable resilience, opting not for violence or vengeance but for a peaceful, democratic, and constitutional struggle in pursuit of justice, dignity, and the restoration of its rightful place in the Kashmir Valley. In this deeply significant backdrop, the recent and rare constitutional step taken by Her Excellency, the Hon'ble President of India, Smt. Draupadi Murmur, to recommend the Private Member's Bill titled "Kashmiri Pandits (Recourse, Restitution, Rehabilitation and Resettlement) Bill, 2022", introduced by Hon'ble Member of Parliament and senior advocate Shri Vivek Tankha in the Riya Sabha, has stirred new hope across the exiled community. This recommendation, made under clause 3 Article 117 of the Constitution of India, is not only unprecedented but also historic. It marks the first instance where a Private Member's Bill concerning the Kashmiri Pandit genocide and displacement has received such a formal and dignified endorsement from the highest constitutional authority of the land. 30 This act by the Hon'ble President is more than a procedural nod-it is a moral awakening, a solemn recognition of the sacrifice, pain, and relentless perseverance of a community that has suffered the brunt of religious extremism, state failure, and political indifference. It symbolically and constitutionally lifts our cause from the margins to the national centre, turning what was once considered a forgotten chapter into a living, breathing legislative discourse. The bill is not an ornamental resolution. It proposes a concrete and wide-ranging framework that seeks to redress historical wrongs. It calls for the formal recognition of the genocide inflicted upon the minority Hindu community in the Valley in 1990-a genocide that India has yet to officially acknowledge. It outlines institutional mechanisms to bring justice to the victims, restitution of religious, ancestral, and cultural properties, legal and economic reparation, and, most critically, a pathway for the safe, secure, and dignified return of displaced families through one-place consolidated rehabilitation. It is therefore both appropriate and essential that, along with the passage of this landmark bill, the long-pending Genocide Bill submitted by the victim Kashmiri Pandit community must also be taken up and passed in Parliament. The genocide of Kashmiri Hindus is not just a wound in our collective memory-it is a living reality that demands formal recognition under Indian law. The passage of the Genocide Bill will provide the legal and moral foundation for truth-telling, accountability, and long-term healing. The two bills-Tankha's Recourse, Restitution, and Rehabilitation Bill, and the Genocide Bill-are complementary in nature and must move together as two pillars of national justice and historical correction. The Indian Republic owes this to its own people. This long-overdue step did not come out of a vacuum. It is the fruit of decades of untiring struggle and unwavering commitment by Kashmiri Pandit leaders, activists, and community organizations. The Kashmiri Pandit Conference (KPC) has consistently pursued the cause on every front-political, social, constitutional, and human rights. Alongside us, other dedicated bodies like the All State Kashmiri Pandit Conference (ASKPC), Panun Kashmir (PK), All India Kashmiri Samaj (AIKS), and Kashmiri Samiti Delhi have relentlessly carried forward this battle for truth and justice. Through years of memoranda to successive governments, dharma’s in heat and rain, protest marches, seminars, legal battles, media campaigns, and spiritual-cultural resistance, we ensured that the genocide and exile of our people could never be erased from India's conscience. This bill represents the distilled voice of a community that refused to perish in silence. It echoes our foundational demands-justice, restitution, and return with dignity. It vindicates the stand we have taken all along: that our exile is not just a humanitarian tragedy but a national failure, and that redress must come not as charity but as a constitutional duty. It reminds India and its lawmakers that 500,000 of its citizens are still KOSHUR SAMACHAR AUGUST 2025 awaiting truth, acknowledgment, and roadmap back to their roots. a In this defining hour, I humbly and strongly appeal to the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi Ji, and the Hon'ble Home Minister, Shri Amit Shah Ji, to personally intervene and ensure that this bill is taken up with utmost seriousness in Parliament. Your esteemed leadership has already delivered transformative justice to many neglected communities -this is the time to deliver historical justice to your own exiled citizens of the Kashmir Valley. The bill must be passed in Toto, exactly as submitted in Parliament, without dilution or delay, importantly ensuring that this victim community of Kashmiri Pandits is settled together at "ONE PLACE" in the land of Kashyap in the Kashmir Valley, as per the longstanding demand of the community. Scattered rehabilitation will only further our insecurity and weaken our identity. Only a unified, concentrated return can preserve our culture, safety, and dignity in a region still marred by ideological hostility. The Presidential recommendation must now galvanize Parliament to rise above party lines and respond with statesmanship. This is not a matter of vote banks or regional politics it is a litmus test of the Indian Republic's moral compass. Let not this moment be reduced to a symbolic gesture. Let it become a turning point. The road from genocide to justice is long and painful, but this bill can become the first legislative milestone in that journey. India must act now-with conscience, with courage, and with compassion. For us, the displaced Kashmiri Pandits, this is not merely a legal bill. It is about identity, survival, return, and closure. It is about moving from exile to dignity.

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Courtesy: Kundan Kashmiri and Koshur Samachar-2025, August