Kashmiri Pandit group dismisses Hurriyat chief’s reconciliatory efforts as ‘meaningless’

Days after Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq met members of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits to discuss their return to the Valley, Panun Kashmir – a prominent group representing the community on Saturday dismissed the reconciliatory efforts as “meaningless”.

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The group said the struggle for a separate homeland within Kashmir where Kashmiri Hindus live with dignity will continue till “justice is served.”

Mirwaiz, who is also a prominent cleric in the Kashmir valley, recently met members of a Kashmiri Pandit group, J&K Peace Forum, in Delhi as part of renewed push to resettle the community which is living in exile in different parts of the country over the past three decades, following the eruption of militancy in the 1980s.

“Panun Kashmir made it clear that there can be no return to the failed model of forced coexistence, which has only resulted in repeated genocidal attacks on Kashmiri Hindus.

“Only viable solution is the creation of a separate homeland within Kashmir, where Kashmiri Hindus can live with full constitutional rights, security, and dignity. This demand is non-negotiable and that no superficial gestures or politically motivated narratives will alter the fundamental reality that justice must be delivered,” Panun Kashmir said in a statement here.

It said the “era of appeasement” is over, warning that history cannot be rewritten to suit those who once “justified or remained complicit in the community’s persecution”.

“Reconciliation cannot be used as a smokescreen to evade responsibility,” it said and called upon the Centre to recognise the “genocide of Kashmiri Hindus and take decisive steps to ensure that their rightful place in their homeland is restored”.

The group emphasised that without truth, justice and accountability, reconciliation is meaningless and that the struggle for a “separate homeland will continue until justice is served”.

Panun Kashmir said any meaningful reconciliation must begin with the formal acknowledgment of genocide of Kashmiri Pandits.