anguish, pain, nostalgia and hope, felt and experienced by displaced persons. She particularly talked of the feeling of ‘not being able to fit in,’ ‘the yearning for home,’ and ‘deferral of “arrival” home.’
Urvashi Butalia began with highlighting the need to problematize the notion of ‘media,’ ‘migration,’ and ‘victim/victimhood.’ She said that the media needs to be viewed as an inclusive category that includes creative writing, journalistic writing, first-hand accounts etc. She also said that there is a need to problematize the idea of ‘migration’ and not be drawn into the binaries of individual-collective, conflict-development induced, physical-mental, and voluntary-involuntary. In addition, one needs to question: who is or is not a victim. Citing the instance of the destruction caused by the Tsunami, she said that, most of the people displaced by the Tsunami included women, children and the aged. The process of displacement therefore is not an undifferentiated one.   
Butalia said that creative writing covers areas and issues that are left untouched by history and media reportage. She said that the human dimension of a conflict such as the one in Kashmir is often not talked about. Even when the media covers this dimension, they stick to the conventional. In this instance she said that the narrative of a Muslim woman who has borne the brunt of the conflict is as important as the narrative of a Christian woman who has chosen not to move out of the valley. Similarly, while Hindu-Muslim narratives of the Partition of 1947 are significant, it is also important to gather narratives of Dalit minorities who may have not been accounted for in the mainstream Hindu-Muslim discourse.
A few issues that Butalia flagged for discussion included: how far do we go for discovering histories, and how do we respond in the face of silences that need to be preserved i.e. stories that should remain untold. After an intense discussion on the ethics of research and writing, Butalia concluded that first and 

foremost it is important to be aware of ethical dilemmas, and look sensitively at histories of pain. It is important to recognize the humanity of people, and talk of them as people, not as numbers and statistics.
In the session ‘Globalization, Media, Internet and Human Disasters,’ A.F. Mathew, talked of the increasing corporatization of the media and the establishment of business monopolies in the media world, and the impact of these trends on media content. He suggested that the coming together of media, internet and telecommunications has been a significant development of the last few decades. Information management in a world of increasing information flows (not without biases and prejudices) has become very important.
The following panel discussion on ‘Forced Migration and Media in Nepal, and the Northeast of India’ foregrounded insights from the field. Guna Raj Luitel of Kantipur Daily, Kathmandu, and Sanjay Borbora and Arup Das, Panos India, addressed the participants. The discussion was moderated by Pradip Phanjoubam, Imphal Free Press. Luitel discussed internal migration in Nepal, and also migration from Nepal to neighboring states, particularly India; and what coverage this phenomenon got in Nepalese media. Sanjay Borbora talked of the rampant migration in Assam, particularly in the Western regions of the state. He said that the media has largely remained unresponsive because the media largely follows stories that talk of the interests of the dominant ethnic groups. It is important for media persons to move beyond their ethnic nationalities when discharging their duties as journalists and opinion-makers. 
The last session included closing remarks by Patricia Mukhim and Deepti Mahajan. The session emphasized the importance of plural and inclusive histories, sensitivity and constant interrogation of established terms and norms.