Jammu, July 1 -- The tears of terror victim families in Jammu & Kashmir have dried over the decades, but the scars of their suffering continue to bleed in silence. Over 40,000 lives lost, families shattered, dreams crushed - and yet, for decades, no one dared to hear them, leave alone speak for them. Finally, a long-overdue reckoning has begun, thanks to the resolute initiative of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and the Government of India.

Let it be said without hesitation: the seeds of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir were sown under the watch of the Congress-led governments at the Centre and the National Conference in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The rigging of the 1987 Assembly elections is an indelible blot in the history o...