Pugwash Conference on Kashmir: Some Reflections
20 Jan, 2005 · 1620
Noor Ahmad Baba presents a reflection on the Pugwash Conference on Kashmir and highlights the atmosphere of reconciliation visible during its course
Pugwash conference on
Kashmir
(
Kathmandu
11-14 December 2004) has been an important milestone in Track Two diplomatic discourses in the context of
India
and
Pakistan
on
Kashmir
for a number of reasons. The tone, tenor and broad-based participation and the reconciliatory attitude from all across the board reflected the positive change that has characterized Indo-Pak relations in 2004. This was a broad-based conference gathering a large number of participants from
India
and
Pakistan
including from both sides of the LoC in Jammu & Kashmir. The participants included prominent people drawn from academic, diplomatic, military, political and business backgrounds. This variety of participation would not be possible without some tacit approval of the two governments in
India
and
Pakistan
. Significantly, no Kashmiri separatist leader was prevented from attending this conference. Even those who for some reason chose to remain absent seemed to be positively disposed off towards the conference.
11 December , 2004 after the initial remarks by the Secretary General of the Pugwash, all participants were invited to give their opening remarks. These reflected conciliatory approach from all participants providing a perfect setting of free expression of ideas and opinions that facilitated the first hand knowledge of various perspectives on issues like
Kashmir
. This was a first vital step aimed at getting a feel of the broad areas of agreement and disagreement on some of the basic issues involved. For this purpose, the organizers rightly maintained that at the initial level no attempt will be made to arrive at any consensus where there are serious differences among the members. It was important to ensure that the conference did not come to any stand still at the start.
In the opening/introductory session that began in the evening of
The participants then separated into three groups that focused on three different facets i.e. inter-Kashmir dialogue, confidence building measures (CBMs) and steps towards conflict resolution on
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