The world is full of stories of displacement. Very few, if any, have stories of return.

The idea that Kashmiri Pandits will return en masse to the Valley is a convenient delusion, circulated with political motives, humanitarian posturing, and moral grandstanding. It ignores psychological truth, historical precedent, and lived reality. The generation that wanted to come back is either frail, forgotten, or buried under headstones with their dreams. The younger generation doesn’t want to return – not out of fear, but out of sheer lack of connection or respect for what Kashmir has become. Irrespective of earnest calls for Chalo Kashmir (for tourists, not for Pandits) and imposing selfie points, not many will tell you it has become a psychological hell. The wonderful smile that you will find on an average Kashmiri’s face would tell you the least about the tumult that he carries. But that is a different topic – maybe some other time!

Edward Said, writing about the exile in “Reflections on Exile,” said: “Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place.”

For Kashmiri Pandits, that rift is permanent. It will always be permanent. Someone who tricks you into believing that you will return is being criminally dishonest with you.

History Speaks: No Return is the Norm

The Jews took 2,000 years to come back, and even then, it was into contested violence and international fragmentation. Palestinians haven’t returned. The Greeks of Asia Minor, driven out of Turkey in the 1920s, still sing laments of Smyrna but never moved back. Sindhi Hindus uprooted during Partition never reclaimed Karachi. The Tibetans in exile across India still pray for Lhasa, but even the Dalai Lama has tempered his tone.

Displacement is final. Even more so when the social fabric that once hosted you no........

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