The pain from 1990 still stings sharp—those freezing nights when families packed one bag and ran from houses they’d lived in for generations. Gunshots, mosque loudspeakers screaming “leave or die,” no police, no safety. Over a lakh Pandits vanished from the Valley in months, turning into camp-dwellers in Jammu or strangers in Delhi, carrying that wound for 35+ years.
I remember the stories my elders told: how the place hummed when everyone mixed—Pandits cooking walnut kheer for Eid, Muslims joining Shivratri pujas, kids from both sides chasing the same kite in the same gali. That wasn’t fake harmony; it was everyday Kashmir. When the Pandits left, the Valley lost its colour, its balance, its full voice.
No one’s saying forget what happened or force anyone back against their will. Many Pandits now have steady jobs, kids in city schools, houses that don’t shake with fear every night. Farooq Abdullah was blunt recently: the door’s open, but most won’t uproot their lives again. Mehbooba said something truer—the Valley still feels half without them, and people here miss the old rhythm.
That’s exactly why they should have the real choice. Not pushed into fenced townships or treated like visitors, but welcomed back to their own streets, their own orchards, their own masjids and mandirs standing side by side. Security has to be iron-tight—no excuses. Old properties need fair resolution so families aren’t left fighting ghosts. Government help with jobs, schools, and rebuilding trust can’t stay on paper.
This isn’t politics or point-scoring. It’s about righting something that’s stayed broken too long. Let those who want to return breathe the same air again, light lamps in the same temples, sit with old neighbours over kahwa. Some might stay forever; others might just visit graves or smell the chinar leaves one more time. Either way, the invitation should be warm and real.
They belong with us—not apart, not exiled. After decades of being outsiders in their homeland, it’s time we say clearly:
Come back if your heart pulls you here. We’d be whole again.
