Irani, others attend inaugural session
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 20: To celebrate Kashmir – The cradle of civilization, as well the phenomenal contributions of Kashmiri Pandit community over the years, a first of its kind month long online ‘The Kashmir Festival‘ has been organised by Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora (GKPD) in association with ‘I Am Buddha’ Foundation. Over a course of one month, starting from December 19, 2020 and ending on January 20-2021, every night at 8 pm IST, a series of episodes will be broadcast live on “I Am Buddha’’ on YouTube and Facebook channels.
This was stated by Parikshat Kaul media inchage GKPD.
He said different aspects of Kashmir and the talent and contributions of its original (currently in exile) inhabitants will be discussed with leading luminaries in various fields like technology, arts, theatre, judiciary, health, food, media, entrepreneurship, sports, music, to name a few. Union Minister for Textiles, , Smriti Irani, Vijay Chauthaiwale, in-charge Foreign Affairs BJP and Vivek Tankha MP Rajya Sabha attended the inaugural session yesterday.
The inaugural session was launched by Dr. Surinder Kaul, co-founder GKPD, who commended community activists and KP organizations across the board who have tirelessly devoted themselves to the betterment of the community. Smriti Irani connected KPs turmoil to that of the Parsi community and commented that both communities have done exceptionally well and contributed immensely to the world.
She offered her continued support to the community in its resolve to return to Kashmir, their homeland.
Vijay Chauthaiwale lauded the community for being resilient in face of adversity. He said that the whole country was with Kashmiri Pandits in their struggle. Vivek Tankha gave an account of the history of KPs starting from the time when emergency was declared in India to the 1990’s exodus.
Despite extreme hardships, community members are holding leading positions across the world. He appreciated GKPD for organising the festival which will further bring the community together.
January 19, 2021 marks the 31st anniversary of the forced exodus of the K P community from Kashmir. It was on this day that a systematised campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing unleashed by Islamic terrorist culminated in more than 500,000 community members being made homeless almost overnight.
In India as well as globally January 19, 2021 will be commemorated by the community as ‘Genocide Day’ and the episode aired that day will focus on heart-breaking first-hand stories of genocide on January 20, 2021 episode will be on ‘Resilience and Resurrection’ and the way forward will be discussed with the wider community.
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