January 19, 1990. This date will go down in the annals of the Indian history and politics as one of the darkest chapters that witnessed the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandit community. The Kashmiri Pandit community bore the brunt of the insurgency in the 1990s and many of them left their homes in the valley for a safe future in the other states. However, some of them still live in Kashmir. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai informed in the Rajya Sabha in 2024 that 6,514 Kashmiri Pandits are still residing in Kashmir valley — highest 2,639 in Kulgam district. According to Mr Rai, after Kulgam district, Kashmiri Pandits are residing in Budgam (1,204), Anantnag (808), Pulwama (579), Srinagar (455), Shopian (320), and Baramulla (294), among others.
Sanjay Tickoo, a socio-political activist and a member of the Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti in Srinagar, also didn’t left Kashmir during the peak of terrorism in Kashmir.
Kashmiri Pandits were kidnapped and killed by the terrorists
Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency (SIA) is investigating the 1990 killing of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhatt, a 27-year-old nurse who was kidnapped by the terrorists on April 18, 1990. She was kidnapped from the Habba Khatoon Hostel of the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) in Soura, Srinagar. She was shot dead by the terrorists and her body was dumped in Umar Colony, Mallabagh, downtown Srinagar. This happened during the heights of insurgency that forced the entire Kashmiri Pandit community out of the Valley in early 1990. Vishwanath Pratap Singh was the Prime Minister of India during the Kashmiri Pandit exodus in 1990. VP Singh became Prime Minister from 2 December 1989 to 10 November 1990 by forming a coalition with both leftists and the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Also read: When The Kashmiri Pandit Exodus Happened During The VP Singh Led Government
