Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 14: Alleging that with the merger of ration and relief of displaced Pandits from Valley with National Food Security Act (NFSA), Panun Kashmir (PK) today said this framework risks normalizing and consolidating genocide and urged the Narendra Modi-led Government to immediately modify the Act.
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The administration had begun integrating migrant ration cards, including those of Kashmiri Pandits living in Jammu, into the NFSA database. The process, which began in early 2026, has sparked backlash from the community, PK chairman Dr Ajay Chrungoo told reporters here.
Dr Chrungoo said that while NFSA is intended as a welfare measure for economically weaker sections, its “mechanical extension” to victims of the “Kashmir Hindu genocide” without recognising their unique historical and civilisational trauma could turn a humanitarian programme into an “instrument of denial and consolidation of genocide”.
“We urge the Prime Minister and the Government of India to immediately review and suitably modify the present framework of the NFSA as applied to the internally displaced Hindus of Kashmir”, he said.
Dr Chrungoo said the Government must distinguish between poverty arising from ordinary economic circumstances and deprivation imposed through genocide, terrorism and forced displacement.
“Treating both categories identically amounts to obscuring the historical reality that caused the suffering of the displaced Hindu community of Kashmir,” he said.
He expressed concern that the present NFSA framework reduces displaced Kashmiri Hindus to a routine welfare category, thereby obscuring the targeted nature of their displacement and the violence inflicted upon the community.
“The inclusion of migrant families into ordinary welfare databases could gradually weaken the distinct recognition of their status as victims of forced displacement and genocide,” he said.
The organisation also maintained that genocide extends beyond physical killings and includes prolonged displacement, demographic erasure, cultural uprooting and systematic dilution of identity.
Referring to the prevailing security situation in J&K, Chrungoo said the ecosystem of terrorism and radicalisation responsible for the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus continues to exist in various forms, including targeted killings, intimidation and recurring threats against civilians.
He cited incidents such as the Pahalgam massacre and other attacks on civilians as reminders of what he termed a continuing atmosphere of insecurity and targeted violence.
He said that displaced Kashmiri Hindus, as well as sections of the Hindu population in the Jammu region, continue to remain psychologically, socially and physically vulnerable to acts of terror and intimidation.
“We demand that the Government introduce specific safeguards while implementing NFSA for internally displaced Kashmiri Hindus, including retaining and legally protecting a distinct administrative category for displaced Hindus of Kashmir and ensuring that NFSA integration does not dilute or replace existing migrant relief, rehabilitation and employment benefits”, he added.
PK leaders , Raj Nath Raina, Pran Koul, Daya Krishan and Sunil Bhat were present in the press conference.
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