The Global Kashmiri Pandit Diaspora (GKPD) will commemorate the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits on Sunday, January 19 with events to be hosted in India, the UK, the US, and Canada.
In the UK, events will be held across London, Nuneaton, Manchester, Oxford, Walsall and Glasgow. The series of events will be organised by the Kashmiri Pandits Cultural Society (KPCS-UK) and Indo-European Kashmir Forum (IEKF).
In the US, events are being held in collaboration with the Indian Americans for Kashmir (IAFK). The key event is in New Jersey where a seminar is being organised with keynote speakers from various political organisations and media houses. The focus is on the ''Kashmiri Pandit genocide''. The event is being supported by hundreds of community volunteers. In Illinois a candlelight vigil will be held at the city hall in Naperville as a tribute to the innocent Kashmiri Hindus killed in 1989, 1990 and later years.
In Canada, a symposium is being organised in Toronto in collaboration with the Indo-Canadian Kashmir forum on ''Global terrorism and its impact on the social, cultural and economic well being of minorities focusing on the return of indigenous Kashmiris to the land of their ancestors and restoration of their political rights''. The event will have eminent speakers of Indo-American and Canadian origin presenting their views on genocide, its implications and the way forward.
On January 19th, over five lakh Kashmiri Pandits were driven out of the Kashmir valley commonly referred to as the “exodus of Hindus”.
