IRD Activities

• Women's Dialogues

  Realizing the need for women to unburden themselves of emotions and pain, CDR initiated Women's dialogues. From private sitting rooms where the focus was the individual who shared how violence had affected her and her family, the dialogue progressively turned to semi-public and public. CDR soon began to invite migrant Kashmiri Pandit (Hindu) women to participate in the dialogue. These Hindu-Muslim dialogue meetings were not easy as both communities had developed separate narratives during the past 20 years of armed conflict of recent as well as distant history, rooted in their own experience

• Connecting Communities in Mumbai & Maharashtra

  The riots of 1992-93 and the serial bomb blasts that followed in Mumbai, unleashed a trail of alienation between religious communities in the Metropolis. Subsequent events in recent years have encouraged near total ghettoisation of the Muslim population and a deepening of the feeling of separateness between Hindus and Muslims. However, the absence of a full scale riot cannot be seen as an indication that all is well. More than ever, the insidious campaign to foster suspicions and strengthen communal prejudices has gained sophistication. In such an atmosphere the foremost need is for daily interaction between different religious/linguistic communities. CDR has developed a structured dialogue module to help deepen understanding amongst diverse communities, address prejudices and misconceptions and build a team who can work towards building community spirit in smaller geographical areas and address issues that affect everyone

• J & K Inter-Community Dialogue

  The Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation has been organizing this dialogue in order to bring together communities that have been estranged and divided by extremist actions and a two decade long armed conflict. CDR has been conducting inter-community dialogues in Jammu and Kashmir between Kashmiri Pandit (Hindu) and Muslim communities to help them share and understand the pain and suffering of each other, address issues of human rights and injustice as perceived by each, and help in mutual trust building. This Dialogue seeks to continue and expand on this engagement by addressing the issues of the Sikhs, Buddhist, as well as other communities in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The purpose of this dialogue will be to bring all communities in the state to contribute to building a future for their state and foster an atmosphere of trust and reconciliation.

Main Focus Countries of Activities

India - Pakistan - India - Pakistan - India - Pakistan