Kashmiri Pandit legacy vital to Valley’s culture: Minister

Expressing concern over the continued dilution of the Kashmiri Pandit community’s cultural and linguistic ethos, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Saturday stressed the need for sustained efforts to preserve its legacy, terming it central to Kashmir’s composite culture.

The minister was speaking at a programme in Jammu organised to mark the death anniversary of Pandit Prem Nath Bhat, a noted lawyer and journalist who was killed by terrorists on December 27, 1989.

Dr Singh said preserving the community’s cultural, linguistic and civilisational ethos was essential to sustaining Kashmir’s centuries-old pluralistic identity, which, he asserted, remained incomplete without the Kashmiri Pandits. He added that the Centre had taken decisive and sustained action against terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir over the past eleven years, leading to a significant decline in terror incidents, stone-pelting and targeted killings.

Paying tributes to Pandit Bhat, the minister said his sacrifice symbolised the suffering endured by the Kashmiri Pandit community due to terrorism and targeted violence. He noted that terrorism had inflicted grave human suffering and severely disrupted Kashmir’s social harmony.

Dr Singh said that for several years the human rights of victims of terrorism, particularly Kashmiri Pandits, were overlooked due to selective and inconsistent definitions of terrorism, which aggravated the injustice faced by those forced to flee their homes and abandon ancestral roots. He said the community had demonstrated extraordinary resilience and an inherent capacity to survive and thrive despite decades of displacement and adversity.

Highlighting Kashmir’s composite cultural heritage, he said Kashmiri Pandits had been an inseparable part of the Valley’s civilisational fabric, contributing significantly to education, literature, administration and social values, and providing a stabilising influence that benefitted society as a whole.

Assuring that the government was sincere and fully committed to addressing the long-pending demands of the community, Dr Singh said he would ensure that these were taken up and addressed to the maximum extent possible. He also suggested that the community undertake a structured exercise to compile demands already met and clearly identify pending issues, which could then be submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The minister said the government’s approach aimed not only at rehabilitation but also at preserving Kashmir’s cultural and social fabric, ensuring that the Kashmiri Pandit community’s contributions were recognised and sustained for future generations.