Kashmiri Pandits are indigenous Hindus who fled the Muslim-majority valley during militancy in the 1990s
Displaced Hindus return to celebrate festival in India’s Kashmir
This year's gathering, held amid heavy security, drew members of the (Kashmiri Hindus) Pandit community scattered across India. Many prayed for peace and met their old Muslim neighbors. Both Hindus and Muslims made renewed calls for the Pandit community's return to its ancestral homeland.
The Kashmiri Pandits are indigenous Hindus who fled the Muslim-majority valley during the 1990s at the height of what India described as Pakistan-backed militancy.
Around 100,000 to 150,000 are estimated to have left Kashmir and settled in various parts of India.
“The mela [festival] is a symbol of our deep connection with this land,” Ashish Nand Bhatt said after praying at the temple. Another devotee from neighboring Jammu, said the annual pilgrimage brought a sense of spiritual renewal.
“The atmosphere here is divine and peaceful. We pray for happiness, good health and lasting peace in Jammu and Kashmir,” she said.
“The government must create conditions that facilitate our return and rehabilitation," he said, adding that his family was originally from Anantnag district in south Kashmir.
A number of devotees have said that rebuilding trust between communities would be essential for “any meaningful return.”
"We are incomplete without each other. Kashmir has always belonged to all its communities. Muslims and Hindus must live together again," he said.
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Jammu and Kashmir has weathered decades of violence and upheaval since it was partitioned between India and Pakistan when both countries became independent in 1947. In 2019, the Modi Govt abrogated the controversial Article 370 and bifurcated the erstwhile state. The Ladakh region of Buddhists and Jammu and Kashmir now are union territories directly under the central government in Delhi.
The UT of Jammu and Kashmir has legislature and NC leader Omar Abdullah is the chief minister now.
Jammu and Kashmir’s lieutenant governor, Manoj Sinha, who heads the union territory as a representative of the central government, also visited the shrine. He said the number of devotees this year was higher than in previous years.
Thousands of members of the displaced Pandit community have visited Indian-administered Kashmir to celebrate a Hindu festival in an emotional homecoming amid renewed calls for their return to their homeland.
The annual festival took place on June 22 at the Mata Kheer Bhawani temple in Tulmulla, about 25 kilometers (15.53 miles) northeast of Srinagar city, which serves as the summer capital of the federally administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Worshippers and pilgrims typically offer milk and Kheer (a festive sweet pudding) to the sacred spring within the temple complex, lighting earthen oil lamps and showering rose petals to show their respect for the Kheer Bhawani goddess.
Hindu devotees performing religious rituals during Mata Kheer Bhawani festival at a temple in Tulmulla near Srinagar
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