New Delhi, March 21 : With ‘The Kashmir Files’ movie creating an awareness of the “genocide” faced by Kashmiri Pandits, a prominent organisation of the community on Monday urged the Central government to set up a Commission of Inquiry into their exodus, besides ensuring proper rehabilitation of the displaced people. The Kashmiri Samiti Delhi (KSD), which is a nodal body recognised by the Government of India ifor matters related to the displaced Kashmiri Pandits, also demanded a separate homeland for the community within the Kashmir Valley to be governed directly by the Centre. “For the last 32 years, we have been saying that we have been victims of a genocide in Kashmir.
We approached everyone’s door, whether it be the Central government or the government of Jammu and Kashmir. But nobody listened to us,” KSD President Sumeer Chrungoo said at a press conference here. He referred to ‘The Kashmir Files’, a much-talked about Hindi movie which depicts the atrocities and killings faced by the Kashmir Pandits which led to their exodus from 1990 onwards. “It has opened the eyes of the world and highlighted that Kashmiri Pandits were subjected to a genocide,” Chrungoo said. “The movie depicts complete details of how Kashmiri Pandits were subjected to the genocide and eventual exodus from Kashmir. This film is the first attempt to portray and persecution, murder, looting and burning of properties of Kashmiri Pandits,” he said. “The killers of Kashmiri Pandits were never tried for their heinous crimes in the court of law. Instead, they were allowed to freely roam around in the valley and lionized,” he said. “Our wounds are still fresh… Until the killing of Kashmiri Pandits is not recognised as a genocide, we will not get justice,” he said. He went on to add, “Kashmiri Pandits are not migrants. We were forced out of our own homeland by terrorists…. Who will return to us what we lost 32 years back?” Answering questions over the number of the community members killed in Kashmir, the KSD leader said, “We have a list of 1800 names who were brutally murdered”. Complaining that the governments so far have not paid attention to the issue, the Kashmiri Pandit leader expressed hope that the ruling dispensation would deliver justice by ensuring punishment to the perpetrators of the “genocide”. “We are hopeful that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah will deliver us justice,” he said, while seeking setting up of a Commission to probe the exodus of around four lakh people. The organisation sought proper rehabilitation and a separate homeland for Kashmiri Pandits within Kashmir, to be governed directly by the Union government. Its leaders said they have given a White Paper in this regard to the government.
