Property Rights of Kashmiri Pandits: A Critical Evaluation of Legal and Policy Measures taken by the Indian Government

An analysis into measures taken by the Indian government for the return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits reveals neglect of property needs of IDPs as well as ‘secondary occupiers'

Published on December 15, 2021

Niketa Singh | all, IDPs, Protracted displacement, Conflict, Violence, Solutions

Kashmiri Pandits: In search of 'home' in the valley? © Chhaya Jindal

The revocation of special status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) under Article 370 of the Constitution of India has put the spotlight back on return and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits thus stirring up the debate, yet again, on their property needs. This paper attempts to critically analyse the legal and policy measures taken by the Indian state to safeguard the property rights of Kashmiri Pandits. The paper looks specifically at three core issues: 1) the categorization of Pandits as ‘migrants’ despite their forced movement from the valley; 2) implications of revocation of special status of the state of J&K under Article 370 of the Constitution and its impact on the property rights and return process of Pandits, and 3) substantive and procedural failings of property reclamation process in the context of its role within the broader peacebuilding process in the valley.

Niketa Singh is an independent researcher and a former Commonwealth Scholar with a Master’s degree in International Development Law and Human Rights from the University of Warwick. Her research is primarily focused on migration and asylum issues in the South Asian region. She has also worked closely with Rohingya refugees and internal migrant workers in India.

This paper was written by the author during her Summer Fellowship on Internal Displacement at the Internal Displacement Research Programme at the Refugee Law Initiative. The Fellowship was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, on behalf of the UKRI Global Challenge Research Fund, as part of the funded project “Interdisciplinary Network on Internal Displacement, Conflict and Protection” (AH/T005351/1).

Download RID Working Paper No. 13

HOW TO CONTRIBUTE

Researching Internal Displacement publishes engaging and insightful short pieces of writing, artistic and research outputs, policy briefings and think pieces on internal displacement.

We welcome contributions from academics, practitioners, researchers, officials, artists, poets, writers, musicians, dancers, postgraduate students and people affected by internal displacement.

Contact the Editorial Team

How to Contribute

Rethinking Planned Relocation as Social Protection In an Era of Increasing Climate Change Risks

By Tomy Ncube and Una Murray | Mar 12, 2026

As climate impacts intensify, planned relocation is increasingly deployed as an adaptation strategy, yet outcomes for relocated communities remain consistently adverse. This paper argues that these failures stem from the treatment of planned relocation as a short-term, projectised disaster response rather than as a long-term developmental intervention. Drawing on social protection theory, this paper reconceptualises planned relocation as a form of social assistance, capable of delivering durable solutions. It demonstrates that planned relocation inherently performs preventive, protective, promotive, and potentially transformative social protection functions by minimising future climate risks, providing non-contributory transfers such as land and housing, and enabling livelihood reconstruction. However, when implemented outside formal social protection systems, these functions may collapse, often resulting in impoverishment and protracted displacement.

Moving Towards Solutions: Addressing Loss and Damage from Protracted Displacement in Bangladesh

By Steve Miron, Dyuti Tasnuva Rifat, Tanjib Islam | Feb 25, 2026

Researching Internal Displacement is pleased to make this case study available as a stand-alone publication. Excerpted from a recent research and advocacy report by the Refugee Law Initiative, this case study of an urban informal settlement in Tongi, Bangladesh, examines the lived experience of loss and damage among people displaced in the context of climate change and left behind in climate action. Encouragingly, the case study also highlights a promising 'good practice' development intervention by the SAJIDA Foundation. In the case study, programme participants describe how Sajida’s multifaceted approach, which empowers women and girls, encourages positive behaviour change and prioritises psychosocial wellbeing across multiple programme workstreams, has helped restore agency, self-sufficiency and hope. SAJIDA’s programme shows how protracted displacement and associated losses and damages can be addressed and are not inevitable.

Missing in (Climate) Action? Displaced Communities and the Search for Durable Solutions: Bangladesh as a loss and damage case study

By Steven Miron, Dyuti Tasnuva Rifat, Tanjib Islam | Oct 21, 2025

Foregrounding the voices of people living in three different communities of displacement in Bangladesh, this field research and advocacy report examines the nexus of climate change, loss and damage and displacement. This comprehensive report highlights promising interventions by Bangladeshi civil society organisations that have helped internally displaced people (IDPs) living in protracted displacement move toward durable solutions. It also examines positive developments on the policy front, including Bangladesh's fledgling National Strategy on Internal Displacement Management (NSIDM). At the same time, it calls attention to how Bangladesh's protracted displacement crisis remains under acknowledged and therefore under addressed in national policy and programming. The findings and recommendations in this report are intended to inform the UNFCCC's Loss and Damage mechanism – the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD), the Santiago Network for Loss and Damage (SNLD) and the Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) ExCom, including its Taskforce on Displacement. Each must urgently demonstrate its commitment to addressing the growing displacement crisis and supporting durable solution programming. The report's findings and recommendations are also relevant to intergovernmental, governmental and civil society organisations working in and outside Bangladesh. Furthermore, the report suggests how conventional durable solutions approaches to displacement must evolve to remain relevant in a world of escalating losses and damages resulting from climate change.