Cries of the victim KP community Aborigines in Exile Aggressors in Occupation, The Untold Constitutional Betrayal of Kashmiri Pandits

 

On this Constitution Day, today when India celebrates the spirit of liberty, equality, justice and fraternity, the deepest wound on the moral conscience of the nation remains the tragedy of the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community. For thirty-six long years, the original inheritors of Kashmir, the true aborigines and indigenous people of the Valley ,have been living in miserable exile, ignored and isolated by the very system that promises protection to every citizen. Aggressors, outsiders and religious converters have occupied the space that rightfully belonged to the Kashmiri Pandits, while the original community has been pushed out, forced to survive in camps, scattered colonies, and makeshift shelter homes. Our land was snatched, our homes abandoned, our temples desecrated, and our identity uprooted from the land of our ancestors, yet no authority intervened to uphold our constitutional rights. The stopping and reduction of monthly relief over different periods has caused severe distress to thousands of families, affecting the education of our children, depriving them of books, schools, and basic opportunities. It has affected our health because medical expenses, treatments, and even life-saving medicines became unaffordable. Families struggled for basic food and nutrition. Many displaced families live today without any of the essential facilities that other Indian citizens take for granted, clean environments, safe housing, proper sanitation, medical support, social security, or financial stability. This prolonged injustice stands in direct violation of Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to life with dignity. Life in exile has been a journey of deprivation, suffering and systemic neglect. The stopping or reduction of monthly relief at various stages pushed thousands of displaced families into darkness. Children's education suffered because books, uniforms and coaching became unaffordable. Healthcare collapsed because medicines and treatment were out of reach. Even basic food and nutrition became difficult for many families. Relief holders live without the dignified facilities every Indian citizen deserves - proper housing, sanitation, safe surroundings, medical care, clean water and secure electricity. This is a clear violation of the right to life with dignity promised under Article 21. The residential quarters allotted to displaced Kashmiri Pandits in Jagti, Nagrota, Muthi, Purkhoo and other camps have steadily decayed into unsafe and unlivable spaces. Buildings have developed dangerous cracks after earthquakes; ceilings leak, walls crumble, drains overflow, and electrical wiring poses constant hazards. Despite countless appeals, letters and personal visits, the administration has ignored every request. No repairs have been executed, leaving elderly people, widows, children and the ill to live in degrading, unsafe conditions unfit for human habitation. This neglect violates both equality and dignity guaranteed under Articles 14 and 21. Thousands of displaced KP families living in rented accommodations across Jammu, Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Chandigarh and other cities endure an even more silent crisis. With stagnant relief and escalating rents, they face eviction threats, suffer humiliation, borrow money to survive, and often live in single rooms, garages, or unsafe temporary spaces. Widows and elderly couples suffer the most. Students are forced to work part-time to support their families. No government has introduced a rent-support scheme or a meaningful rehabilitation plan, leaving these families in unaddressed misery. Repeated announcements for new residential quarters produced nothing on the ground. Land was not acquired, funds were not released, tenders were delayed, and bureaucratic obstacles were never cleared. Meanwhile, thousands continue to remain unsettled, trapped in temporary shelters with no long-term relief in sight. These failures reflect a stark absence of political will to rehabilitate a community uprooted by terror. 24 Equally painful is our complete political disempowerment. We have no representation in the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly, no seat in Parliament, and no meaningful voice in the decision-making bodies of the Union Territory. Article 14 guarantees equality before the law, yet the victim community has been kept outside the democratic and political process, with no constitutional mechanism that ensures our concerns are heard. Relief holders and displaced families have received no central or state schemes at par with other citizens of India. Constitutional equality has remained only a principle, not a reality,for our community. No Prime Minister, no Home Minister, no authority in the highest offices of governance has provided a meaningful hearing or solution. The Supreme Court and other courts have not delivered justice to the victims; the executive has not acted on our core issues. FIRs were never filed in thousands of cases of killings, loot, arson and destruction committed against us in the 1989-90 period. Our properties were grabbed through distress sale, force, threats or deceit, yet the law remained absent. Shockingly, no proper compensation or valuation was ever provided for our burnt, looted, or illegally occupied homes. Our claims were minimized and our losses were undervalued, while aggressors enjoyed impunity. Politicians of all shades used the tragedy of Kashmiri Pandits for their vote-bank politics. Some parties emotionally exploited our pain, made promises, and abandoned us when power was secured. Others mocked our suffering, silenced our voice or played cynical games to gain sympathy without giving any real support. Our community has faced disparities, humiliation, discrimination and step-motherly treatment from successive governments. Adding to the pain is a deliberate distortion of our identity. Instead of being officially recognized as victims of religious cleansing and indigenous people of Kashmir who were hounded out by terror and majoritarian violence, we were labelled "migrants", a term meant for voluntary movement, not forced exile. This cruel misclassification diluted our tragedy and erased the truth. Even though the government and authorities fully know that we were forced out, denied coexistence, and targeted with the intention to eliminate us, they still call us migrants and not displaced victims. This violates Article 29 of the Constitution, which protects the cultural identity of communities; Article 19, which guarantees the freedom to reside and settle anywhere in India; and Article 25, which protects religious rights and freedoms. In Kashmir, all these rights were violated systematically. No separate land has been marked for our one-place settlement. No secure rehabilitation plan has been created. No constitutional, legal or administrative guarantee has been offered for our safe return. Our genocide has not been declared, nor have we been recognized as a community subjected to targeted religious violence. Article 32 guarantees the right to constitutional remedies, but for Kashmiri Pandits, these remedies never translated into action. The injustice done to the Kashmiri Pandits is not just a humanitarian tragedy-it is a constitutional betrayal. Article 14 (Equality Before Law) was denied when aggressors and illegal occupiers flourished while victims were left to suffer. Article 15 (Protection Against Discrimination) was violated when a minority community was targeted and expelled because of its religion. Article 21 (Right to Life and Dignity) was violated by killings, threats, homelessness, and decades of camp life. Article 19 (Freedom of Movement and Residence) was violated when an entire community was forced to flee its homeland. Article 25 (Freedom of Religion) was violated when temples were attacked and religious identity targeted. Article 29 (Protection of Culture) was violated when our heritage was erased and our shrines abandoned. Article 32 (Right to Remedies) was rendered meaningless as no justice came in thirty-six years. Article 300A (Right to Property) was violated when our land and homes were taken under distress, coercion, or illegal occupation, and the State failed to protect or restore them. No employment package given with age relaxation in central government departments and understanding and others. These constitutional violations stand as a permanent reminder that the Kashmiri Pandits have not received the protections that every Indian is entitled to. They remain refugees within their own country, victims of a tragedy that the nation has still not fully recognized. On this Constitution Day, the nation must ask itself: What is the meaning of the Constitution if its guarantees do not extend to those who were killed, looted, hounded out, silenced and forgotten? The Kashmiri Pandit community has upheld every duty of citizenship, stood by India in every crisis, defended the national flag, and protected the spirit of the Constitution. Yet, the Constitution has not been delivered to them. It is time to restore justice. It is time to acknowledge the genocide. It is time to recognize the Kashmiri Pandits as an indigenous, victimized community. It is time for rehabilitation with dignity, secure settlement, political representation, legal accountability, and restoration of our constitutional rights. Until then, the story of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits will remain the most painful chapter of constitutional failure in independent India.

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Courtesy:  Kundan Kashmiri and Koshur Samachar-2025,December