Whenever Kashmir state of India is discussed, the debate often revolves around cross-border terrorism, security, the rights of the majority Kashmiri Muslims and international politics. But this time the topic of discussion is none of these. This time at the center is the minority Kashmiri Hindus of this state, whose tragedy remained on the margins of national and global discourse for decades. The echo of whose human rights does not reach the forums of the United Nations, nor the international courts, and unfortunately the human rights discourse of the country also seems to be silent towards their suffering. Have Kashmiri Hindus, who are a minority in Jammu and Kashmir despite being a majority in India, been victims of politics for decades? Are their human rights, justice and right to dignified and safe resettlement different from those of other citizens? If not, then why did their displacement, their suffering and their demand for justice not find the place in the national discourse that is expected of a democratic republic?

Justice delayed is justice denied. This statement seems equally relevant even today on the suffering of Kashmiri Hindus displaced from Jammu and Kashmir in India, especially the Kashmiri Pandit community. On June 29, after almost 36 years, Jammu and Kashmir Police has filed a 737-page charge sheet in the Anti-Terrorism Court in the case of murder of Kashmiri Pandit nurse Sarla Bhatt in 1989. According to the charge sheet, Sarla Bhatt was abducted by militants of the banned organization Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, subjected to inhuman torture and later murdered.

The chargesheet names other accused including then JKLF (a terrorist organization) chief Yasin Malik. According to police, Khurshid Ahmed Chalaku fired at Sarla Bhatt and fled to Pakistan-administered Kashmir after the incident. The other three accused named in the case, Abdul Hameed Shaikh, Mohammad Yusuf Sufi and Ghulam Mohammad Taplu, are no longer alive. The investigating agency alleges that this was not an........

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