The silent exodus: Sikhs in Kashmir caught between staying and leaving (2024)

The ordeal of the tiny minority of Sikhs in Kashmir, who have been living there for generations, has remained largely undocumented. Despite terrorism, massacres, brutalities, and religious persecutions, many of them chose to stay in their homeland while constantly battling the question: “To leave or not to leave?”

“Those Who Stayed” is a new book by Bupinder Singh Bali, a Kashmir-based school teacher, who was shaken to the core after his colleague Supinder Kour’s killing by terrorists in October 2021, simply for “being a Sikh.”

Author Bupinder Singh Bali (third from left) with other members of Kashmir Sikh community.

Bali notes that a renewed cycle of targeted killings in recent years, where non-Muslims and non-locals have been brutally murdered by extremists in the valley, has once again triggered a “silent migration” of Sikhs from Kashmir.

“The Sikh population in Kashmir is dwindling again. I was shaken when a Sikh school principal was shot dead in October 2021. That one phone call that brought this news to me left me with several questions. But somehow, Kashmiri Sikhs have always been missing from the overall narrative of the valley, which has a long history of turbulence and conflict. It was important to record and document their story,” says Bali.

The historical connection of Sikhs with the valley is long-standing, and despite massacres that killed thousands from the community, many chose to stay back.

“During the 1947 Kabali raids, at least 20,000-30,000 Sikhs were killed. Later, at least 35 Sikhs were killed at Chittisinghpora, five in Mehjoor Nagar, and three Sikh girls were also killed at Push Kriri. The history of Sikhs in Kashmir goes back more than 500 years. Sikhs living here were born and brought up in Kashmir. They are not outsiders who migrated from elsewhere; Kashmir belongs to them as much as it does to other diverse communities. They had to rebuild their lives after every massacre that would uproot them, but they chose not to leave,” says Bali, who was born in Kashmir but whose family was twice forced to move due to terrorism, only to return.

“When my father’s brother was gunned down in 1991, we had to leave our home. We returned but had to leave again in 2001,” he says.

“It was only after Sikhs fought the Kabalis in 1947 that the Indian Army was able to enter the territory. The sacrifice of Sikhs to protect their motherland can’t be omitted from history,” he adds.

Sikh community in Kashmir

Returning to Srinagar in 2010 after getting a job as a school teacher, Bali says that analysis of recent data indicates that the Sikh population in the valley is dwindling again. “In 2023, at least 311 Sikh students from Kashmir appeared in the Class 12 state board exams. The number has dropped to 246 this year. Though we are not in any direct confrontation with Muslims in Kashmir, there are day-to-day challenges that hinder the progress of Sikhs here. The recent killings have triggered the silent migration again,” says Bali.

“Over 20 people from the minority communities have been killed in recent times. Sikhs, who comprise less than 1 per cent of the total population of Kashmir, are the main minorities living in the valley. According to the official portal of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, the Sikh population is just 0.88 per cent. Like Kashmiri Pandits who were ousted from their homes and had to face an exodus from their own country, Kashmiri Sikhs too have suffered a lot. Our narrative has been lost, and through this book, I wanted to reclaim a part of it. We want policymakers to know that we too exist in Kashmir and need rehabilitation in our own home. Now, even home and the workplace don’t feel safe,” says Bali.