Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Oct 30: As participants representing all five regions of erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir assembled in Srinagar for a 3-day cross-LoC conference, both India and Pakistan besides Kashmiri leaders were stressed upon to create conducive atmosphere for restarting the dialogue process and institutionalizing the November 2003 ceasefire agreement on the border.
The participants insisted that both India and Pakistan should avoid heavy artillery in the populated areas and ensure demining on the LoC as per international standards to prevent human casualties on both sides.
This 17th cross- LoC conference, organized by Centre for Dialogue & Reconciliation (CDR), was attended by about 50 participants, including an 11-member delegation from PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan.
While all participants vociferously demanded that all trans-LoC routes opened earlier should be made fully functional, the delegates from Ladakh and Gilgit-Baltistan stressed upon opening the Kargil-Skardu road immediately for both travel and trade.
The group demanded that cross-LoC travel should be expanded to all the state subjects on both sides of the LoC and procedures for travel simplified.
The participants also demanded that banking facility with Nostro-Vostro account, which is already recommended by the Chambers, should be implemented to formalize the cross-LoC trade. The delegates also insisted on enhancing the product list with specific HS codes besides opening communication links, direct telephone line from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad and encouraging women entrepreneurship in trade.
Moreover, there was unanimity among the participants about expanding the democratic space on both sides of the LoC by encouraging and safeguarding civil society voices and non-violent political activities. The participants also emphasized the need on developing cross-LoC disaster management mechanism and sharing of data in times of natural calamities like earthquake and floods, etc.
It was also agreed upon that there was urgent need to involve women as stakeholders in all the dialogue and peace-building processes.
The participants agreed that the ultimate solution should recognize the unique history of Jammu & Kashmir and that resolution must be honourable, implementable and politically acceptable to stakeholders.
Participants of the conference, included; Prof Shakeel Romshoo, Head of Dept, Earth Sciences, University of Kashmir; Prof Gul Wani, Director, UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Research Institute, KU; Prof Sidiq Wahid , former Vice Chancellor, IUST; Sehar Iqbal , Director, Sajid Iqbal Foundation; Dr Mohsin Shakeel, Advocate Jammu High Court; Jigmet Yangchuk, Leh; Fayaz Jarral, Chartered Accountant, Kotli; Mohammad Arif, Geo, Muzaffarabad; Dr Rouf Malik, Koshish; Ellora Puri , Jammu; K D Maini, Poonch; Ali Mohd Jan, Gilgit; .Altaf Hussain, Gilgit Baltistan; Wajahat Habibullah, former chairman, National Information Commission and others.
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