New Delhi, Jan 21 : The exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley was a tragedy that tore apart a social fabric built over centuries but must not be allowed to define Kashmir’s future, moderate Kashmiri separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said Wednesday.
He said Kashmir’s soul was “wounded, not lost”, and called for rebuilding bridges of trust between communities through dialogue, honesty and mutual acknowledgement of pain.
Addressing a remembrance meeting here for Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Front (JKDF) founder Bhushan Bazaz who passed away on January 12, the Mirwaiz said that the Kashmir Valley was witnessing a growing moral silence at a time when voices of conscience were becoming increasingly rare.
“Those were the years when Kashmiri Pandits had to face displacement — a tragedy that tore apart a social fabric built over centuries. Yet it was always said quietly but firmly that Kashmir’s plural soul was wounded, not lost, and that it would one day find its way back to itself,” he said.
The chief cleric of Kashmir said he has always maintained that the dignified return of the Kashmiri Pandits is not merely a political matter, it is a humanitarian and ethical obligation.
“They must return, not to guarded enclaves or segregated colonies, but to their rightful homes, to live among us as equal stakeholders in a shared future,” he said.
The Mirwaiz stressed that lasting peace in Kashmir required acknowledging each other’s pain — both the pain of conflict and the pain of displacement — and rebuilding trust patiently and honestly.
“He (Bazaz) believed, and so did I, that healing Kashmir requires acknowledging each other’s pain and rebuilding trust through dialogue,” he said, adding that reconciliation could not be selective or exclusionary.
Bazaz, son of renowned writer and Kashmir historian Prem Nath Bazaz, was widely regarded as a principled Kashmiri Pandit voice advocating peace, reconciliation, non-violence and inclusive democratic engagement in Jammu and Kashmir.
