The tears of terror victim families in Jammu & Kashmir have dried over the decades, but the scars of their suffering continue to bleed in silence. Over 40,000 lives lost, families shattered, dreams crushed — and yet, for decades, no one dared to hear them, leave alone speak for them. Finally, a long-overdue reckoning has begun, thanks to the resolute initiative of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and the Government of India.
Let it be said without hesitation: the seeds of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir were sown under the watch of the Congress-led governments at the Centre and the National Conference in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The rigging of the 1987 Assembly elections is an indelible blot in the history of our democracy — it is this betrayal of electoral mandate that gave rise to disillusionment, radicalisation, and the open floodgates of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. The people of Kashmir, especially the innocent civilians who fell prey to bullets of terrorists, were not only killed, but systematically forgotten by successive regimes that found comfort in silence and denial.
One of the most tragic chapters of this dark period was the forced exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in the 1990s. Targeted killings, threats, and a climate of fear created by Islamist terrorists drove thousands of KP families from their ancestral homes, reducing an entire community to refugees in their own country. Their displacement was not just physical—it was cultural, emotional, and generational. Justice for them has remained elusive for far too long.
It is a matter of national shame that funeral processions for terrorists were once allowed, while the bodies of innocent Kashmiri civilians were buried without justice or even a formal FIR. Families who lost their loved ones were not just ignored — they were actively marginalised by an ecosystem that included separatists, terrorist sympathisers, and even some individuals embedded within our administrative system. For years, a dangerous narrative was promoted portraying Pakistani terrorists as victims and security forces as oppressors, all while the real victims — the people of Kashmir — were erased from public memory.
The Lt Governor’s decision to reopen the long-buried cases, ensure registration of FIRs, provide employment to next of kin, and free encroached land and property is a righteous corrective. His directive to identify those from the terror ecosystem now working in Government departments must be carried out with uncompromising urgency. These infiltrators must be weeded out, named, and punished — for they not only betrayed their duty but also aided the enemy from within.
It is time to unmask the collaborators of terror — be they sitting in bureaucracy, politics, or academia. Their comfort must end where the justice for victims begins. Establishing a Special Cell in the LG Secretariat to monitor these efforts is a welcome move, but this process must be monitored at the highest level — the victims deserve swift and unflinching justice.
For far too long, truth was buried under fear. Now, voices of victim families are rising — with pain, with pride, and with proof. The Government must ensure that this is not just another bureaucratic exercise but a moral crusade to right a historic wrong. Pakistan, now a global symbol of terror and economic collapse, continues to send its youth to training camps to kill ours. But under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership and Operation Sindoor, a decisive battle has been launched — one that must culminate not just in security, but in full-spectrum justice.
The silence of the past must not be repeated. Let the new Jammu & Kashmir rise not only from development, but also from truth and justice.
