A recent interfaith dialogue in Kashmir is facing backlash for excluding the voices of Kashmiri Pandits and Buddhists. Activists argue that true reconciliation cannot happen without genuine representation of all communities.
By KS News Desk
New Delhi, June 04: Roots in Kashmir, a prominent Kashmiri Pandit advocacy group, has voiced strong objections to a recent interfaith dialogue organized by the Anjuman Interfaith Dialogue Chapter in Kashmir. The organization alleges that the event reflects an ongoing pattern of exclusion and erasure of the Kashmiri Pandit community from the region’s sociopolitical discourse.
Rahul Mahanoori, a senior activist with Roots in Kashmir, questioned the credibility of the event due to the absence of key religious communities.
“An interfaith dialogue in Kashmir without its aboriginal community—the Kashmiri Pandits—and without representation from the two major religious communities of J&K and Ladakh—Hindus and Buddhists—raises serious questions about the intent and credibility of the entire exercise,” Mahanoori stated.
Echoing similar sentiments, Amit Raina, spokesperson for the group, said the event seemed to serve political rather than reconciliatory purposes.
“The presence of political leaders known for their separatist ideologies reinforces our long-standing concern that forces in Kashmir are still actively working to erase the Kashmiri Pandit identity. The ethnic cleansing of our community is not just a historical fact—it is a continuing reality.”
Raina further pointed to the inclusion of certain controversial figures as evidence of the event’s underlying agenda.
“The inclusion of figures like Mirwaiz and Waheed Parra only makes it clearer—the event was never about interfaith harmony, but about internal consolidation of Islamic factions under a single narrative,” he emphasized.
Roots in Kashmir has called for genuine platforms of dialogue that are inclusive of all communities and rooted in an honest reckoning with the region’s past and present realities.
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