Every year on 19th January, Kashmiri Pandit community goes through many emotions - they *remember and relive the pain* they experienced 1989 onwards, they *celebrate their resilience* that has ensured the community not only survived three decades of exile from their homeland, but has been able to achieve huge success in almost every field, and they *reaffirm their resolve* to return as per their own geo-political demands that ensure a life of honor and dignity while ensuring non-refoulement!

To bring out these three emotions, an annual effort under the name Nishkasan Ka Dard (NKD) is being organized every year. The aim is to spend the night in tents during the cold night of 19th January every year and relive the pain, and use all mediums of expression to depict these three emotions - depict the pain, resilience, and resolve through paintings, sketches, photographs, poetry, skits, audio/visuals, etc.

This year, due to the pandemic, we will not be able to assemble in one place and set up the tents and the exhibition. This year we are organizing a virtual NKD zaagurn event. KPs and KP orgs across the world are expected to participate in this event.

As an online participating volunteer, you are expected to set up night vigil outside your home (either on the road, in a park, in the balcony of your home, or terrace of your home - whatever works for you). The setup needs to be very minimalistic (one mattress, one quilt/bedsheet, one pillow, one diya/lantern/equivalent) along with a device with which they can connect to call.

You will connect to a call and imagine yourself to be on the streets/camps of Jammu on the night of 19th Jan 1990. The past few months have been excessively shocking and spent in fear (with near and dear ones having been butchered), people have left their home and hearth in dead of the night and reached Jammu not having any thoughts on what the future holds for them. People are looking at their young children sleeping in the cold night out in the open, they are trying to make their old parents comfortable in the harsh conditions, and are brooding about what happened to them. This free-form discussion will be conducted in three-four sessions with people sharing actual personal experiences and anecdotes for each topic:

1. Relive the pain

• What lead to this situation over the last many years?
• What has been everybody's experience over the last few months?
• What have people lost?
• What does future behold?
• What should be their approach?
• What should they do to come out of the current situation?

2. Celebrate resilience

• In these three decades, what did people focus on?
• How did people spend their early exodus days and their journeys of small or big successes?
• Extremities people faced and how they conquered all challenges, and how?

3. Reaffirm the resolve

• Do KPs want to return to their homeland?
• What are key necessities required by KPs to return?
• What does future hold for KPs if they do return to their homeland?
• What about genocide they have gone through and what does it take to reverse the genocide?
• What are the key next steps for the community?

These are just high level indicative aspects that will be covered during the event. This will not be a typical webinar with speeches and all. This will be people pouring their hearts out and sharing personal experiences and anecdotes, and having a free-form discussion to bring out the core of KP viewpoint to the fore.

Fill the form below if you want to participate as an online participating volunteer. By filling this form, you agree for NKD team to contact you on email and phone (calls, text, WhatsApp).