Call for inclusion of women in resolution of Kashmir dispute

ISLAMABAD: At a time when relations between Islamabad and India are at their lowest ebb, Kashmiris from both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) have called upon all stakeholders to restart processes towards resolving the Jammu and Kashmir dispute and importantly involve women as stakeholders in the dialogue process with Kashmiri leaders, as they are the worst sufferers of the ongoing conflict.
It is time that the people of the region must feel secure and should have the freedom to develop their own accountable systems. Disaster risk reduction and preparedness should be included as a new confidence building measure. India and Pakistan and the Kashmiri leaders are urged to create conducive atmosphere for restarting the dialogue process, shun violence by institutionalising the November 2003 ceasefire agreement on the LoC and working boundary, announce a non initiation of combat operations with militant groups and avoid the use of violence as an instrument of addressing the Kashmir issue.
These recommendations were made recently at a three-day cross-LoC conference in Srinagar where 50 participants representing all five regions of Jammu and Kashmir including 11 delegates from Azad Kashmir presented their viewpoint. The event was organised by the Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation.
Both countries were asked to immediately resume the dialogue on all outstanding issues, including the Kashmir issue, ensuring that this dialogue should be continuous and uninterrupted and insulated from ups and downs in the relationship between the two countries related to non Kashmir issues. Besides dialogue should have series of structured conversations with Kashmiris within and outside the legislative process.
The conference emphasised on the fact that the people of Kashmir have their own unique challenges and it would help identify common trans-LoC and cross-border issues and develop coordination mechanisms to manage these issues.
Both governments should move towards demilitarisation and deweaponisation of Jammu and Kashmir on both sides of the LoC and attempts should be made to re-establish the organic civilisational, cultural, economic and political links that have existed in the region for centuries.
Recommendations included those on trade, which links the two Kashmirs. It is important that this should not get disrupted by violence, women entrepreneurship in cross LoC trade should be encouraged while there should be open communication links with direct telephone line from Srinagar to Muzaffarabad and Poonch to Rawalakot.
Natural disasters which have seen both sides of the LoC affected these past few years saw the conference recommending that disaster risk reduction and preparedness should be included as a new confidence building measure.
In this regard it was suggested that a hydrological, meteorological, seismological and GIS centres on scientific lines on both sides of the LoC should be set up, which would see the sharing of related data between the two centres.