Sunday, August 21 2005 18:07 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Part I - A Summer camp for Pandit children

"Bye- bye Kashmir!" poignant voices of thirty children from Muthee and Nagrota migrant camps of Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu resonated in unison when their bus entered the Jawahar tunnel, the long dark tunnel which pierces through the mighty Pir Panjal ranges connecting Jammu and Kashmir Division. On their way back after attending a weeklong theatre workshop during a Summer Camp in Gulmarg, along with twenty-five children from the Valley, their eyes moist with tears and crestfallen faces, they asked, "When will we go back?"

So were the sentiments of Bijbehara and Baramulla children from Valley. "We wish they come back and stay with us." Unable to contain their emotions, these fifty-five children had cried inconsolably when they parted. They promised each other to meet soon or at least keep in touch through letters and phones.

The Summer Camp organized by Yakjah Reconciliation and Development Network (YRDN), in collaboration with Pandies' Theatre and supported by Human Aid Society, Baramulla Al Abbas Trust, Baramulla, Gazi Memorial School, Bijbehara Vitasta Sewa Samaj, Nagrota and Humanity Welfare Helpline, Bijbehara, was an attempt to bring Kashmiri children across the ethnic and religious divide in a common space for a collective understanding of differences. "It was a collective effort to rediscover Kashmiriyat," said Shahnawaz, one of the Yakjah members.

"It was a challenging job to convince Kashmiri Pandit parents to send their children to Kashmir and no adult was willing to accompany them as coordinator," shares Chaman Lal Kothari from Nagrota. "We all were apprehensive and a bit scared," he adds. Fears, which perhaps were not unfounded for hardly a month ago, as there had been series of IED blasts in front of schools in Srinagar and Pullwama. But all fears were put to rest when Bijbehara children who had been waiting for their ' mehman' since two in the afternoon joined them in the bus at eight in the night to proceed to Gulmarg. There twelve young hearts from Baramulla greeted them, clapping and singing a welcome song for the busload of enthusiast, wide awake at midnight.