SRINAGAR, Jammu-Kashmir— Kashmiri Hindus have longed to return and remain in their Himalayan homeland since fleeing violence by separatist militants in the 1990s. The Indian government — particularly Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-first Bharatiya Janata Party, in power since 2014 — has loudly and repeatedly promised to help the Kashmiri Hindus, called Pandits, move back to Kashmir.

But now thousands of Pandits are again fleeing India’s only Muslim-majority region after a series of targeted civilian killings. Kashmir is claimed fully by both India and Pakistan but ruled in part by each.

Militants are fighting for the separation of Kashmir from India while security forces guard colonies of Pandits. The violence reminds Kashmiris of the early 1990s, when Pakistan-backed militants warring against New Delhi’s rule targeted Kashmiri Hindus, prompting 300,000 Hindus to flee the area.

The Himalayan region of Kashmir acceded to India at the time of India’s independence in 1947, after which tribal leaders from a mostly Muslim Pakistan invaded and gained control of parts of Kashmir. Nearly 7 million people live in the Kashmir Valley, 97% of them Muslim. About 50,000 people have been killed in conflict in the last three decades, mainly between Indian security forces and Kashmiri militant separatists, according to official figures.

Most of those leaving Kashmir in recent weeks are government employees and their families.

“Government has failed us,” said Ashok, a government employee who did not want to give his full name and fled Kashmir for Jammu, a neighboring flatland with many Pandit settlements. For the past 12 years, the government has been unable to resettle 4,000 Pandits in Kashmir with stable jobs and secure housing, Ashok said.

Militants targeted and killed five people in less than 48 hours in early October, including Hindu and Sikh teachers at their school in Srinagar, the capital, as well as a Kashmiri Muslim taxi driver and a notable Kashmiri Hindu chemist. Then on Oct. 11, five Indian soldiers and two militants were killed in gun battles after security forces stepped up in response to the civilian killings, Reuters reported.  

“The prime minister of this country hasn’t given a passing mention nor issued a condemnation statement” about the recent civilian killings, Ashok said. “Why this apathy? Until the conditions in Kashmir return to normal, we are not going to go back. Enough is enough.”

In 2010, the Indian government — then led by the Congress Party, a rival to the present ruling Bharatiya Janata Party — launched a program to resettle Pandits. It was seen as the most significant effort made for the return of Kashmiri Pandits to Kashmir. The government gave 3,000 Kashmiri Pandits jobs to settle in Kashmir with their families, and 1,200 Pandits returned to live in migrant colonies in Kashmir. The government then decided to give 3,000 additional government jobs and 6,000 transit accommodations to help Kashmiri Pandits return to Kashmir. 

But many who returned to Kashmir under this program now say that the recent civilian killings are prompting them to seriously evaluate whether to leave.

Hriday Nath Talashi, in his 70s, lives in a township for Kashmiri Pandits constructed by the government at Jagti, 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from Jammu. The living conditions in the government-provided housing are cramped, and walls often seep with water from broken pipes. His son, who was working as a government employee in Kashmir, has come to Jammu and said working in Kashmir is not worth it until a sense of security is restored among the Kashmiri Pandits.

“When the civilian killings took place in Kashmir, we sought security from the police, but we were told that security cannot be provided to each Pandit family,” Talashi said. 

Reconciliation between Muslims and Hindus

Other Pandits who never migrated from Kashmir in the first place and have lived alongside Muslim neighbors their whole lives are also worried about the rise in militancy. Sandeep Mawa, who runs a business in Srinagar, never moved away from Kashmir. His father was shot and injured by militants in the early ‘90s but miraculously recovered to restart his business in 2019.

Mawa has been conducting reconciliation programs between Hindu and Muslim communities. He said that after the killings it is the responsibility of the community’s Muslim majority to speak in support for the Pandits.

“When militancy erupted in Kashmir in the ‘90s, Muslims stayed quiet. and Hindus had to leave,” Mawa said. “Now a similar situation is being created. The onus lies on the majority Muslims to speak up for giving confidence to Pandits to stay on in Kashmir.”

Even though many Kashmiri Muslims do not support the militant violence, speaking up against armed separatists can be dangerous. Many Muslim opposition politicians, journalists and activists have been arrested on arbitrary charges — and some even killed.

Cycles of unrest and lockdowns, compounded by the pandemic, have brought about a sense of hopelessness pushing many into a state of depression. But in a region ravaged by violence, religion is an important community resource for healing. After the recent killings, appeals were made from mosques in Kashmir to maintain harmony and brotherhood.

“We must keep our tradition of togetherness alive,” an imam in a mosque in Srinagar told a congregation after recent Friday prayers. “Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs have been living together in Kashmir since ages. We pray to God to make us follow our traditions. Let there always be love and affection between us.”

There are 1,842 Hindu places of worship in Kashmir, including temples, shrines, holy springs, holy caves and holy trees, according to a 2009 survey by a Pandit organization. But out of 952 temples, only about 200 are operating. After Pandits fled Kashmir in the early ‘90s, only 65 temples remained open, with security forces or Pandits living nearby to guard them. Since then, Kashmiri Muslims, temple committees and the Indian government’s tourism department have helped Pandits revive many temples. 

For the last decade, Ghulam Qadir Sheikh has been the caretaker and cleaner of Tirath Raj Kapal Mochan temple in South Kashmir’s Shopian district. He is not paid for being the temple’s caretaker, but he said it is his duty to safeguard and preserve it.

“If any Hindu who doesn’t have a place to stay in Kashmir comes to pray at the temple, I give him food and make arrangements for his stay at my home,” Sheikh said. “I consider this as my duty.”

The Pandits who remain in Kashmir

By the late ‘90s, violence against Hindus had decreased, and many Pandits voluntarily returned to the valley. Pushkarnath Bindroo had migrated to Jammu from northern Kashmir’s Baramulla district in the early ‘90s but returned in 1996 with five other families. They initially settled in a temple before moving to their house. The cloth merchant said his return was celebrated as a festival of sorts by local Muslims who supported him to restart his business.

“When we returned in 1996, we were given a rousing welcome by local Muslims,” Bindroo said. “They brought provisions for us and helped us to restart the business. We don’t understand why these civilian killings are taking place now. We are surprised, but there is no fear.”

After the recent civilian killings, Kashmiri Pandit families living in Kashmir were offered security by the police in their homes. Those who didn’t wish to host police officers in their homes were asked to sign an agreement stating they would be responsible for their own security and wouldn't blame the police or government for harm that may come to their families.

“The police are telling Kashmiri Pandits to provide rooms in their houses for the deployment of police personnel there, but that is not possible — most people have rejected the offer,” Sanjay Tickoo, a Pandit leader, said. “The biggest surprise, though, is that Pandits are asked to give an undertaking that if we don’t want to take the security and if, God forbid, something wrong happens, police or the government won’t be responsible for that.” 

On Aug. 5, 2019, Jammu and Kashmir’s special status as a semi-autonomous state was ended. The region was split into two union territories, which means New Delhi can maintain greater control over the region. That was immediately apparent with a months-long internet and phone service ban, house arrests of opposition politicians and arbitrary arrests and detentions of young men, followed by lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The change in Jammu and Kashmir’s status was followed by the introduction of new land laws that allow nonresidents to own land and settle in Kashmir. This triggered fears that more Hindu Indians would settle the region and change its Muslim culture. But for the indigenous Pandit population living outside of Kashmir, not much changed.  

In the 2020 local elections, Sunil Pandita, a Kashmiri Pandit, won as an independent candidate from his hometown of Kupwara in northern Kashmir. He lives in the Jagti migrant camp in Jammu but said his heart is always in Kashmir. He said the government cannot be absolved of its responsibilities to provide security for civilians in Kashmir.

“It is sad that efforts of people like us who are trying to bring the Hindu and Muslim communities closer to each other and bridge the divide created by politicians are being undone,” Pandita said.

Zaffar Iqbal is a journalist based in Kashmir, India. He has reported for 18 years on armed encounters, environmental issues, crime, politics, culture and human rights. He’s formerly the bureau chief of Jammu and Kashmir for NDTV.