A departure from history: Kashmiri Pandits, 1990-2001

Abstract

Most Kashmiri Pandits living in the Kashmir Valley left in 1990 as militant violence engulfed the state. Some 95% of the 160,000-170,000 community left in what is often described as a case of ethnic cleansing. Why did they leave? What political movements have followed? Much of the present focus is on those who have left, but the small minority who remain in the Kashmir Valley may be more important in determining what kind of society Kashmir becomes.