A civil society forum in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) has begun interacting with like-minded people in this part of the border to kick-start a process to understand “mutual issues” across the Line of Control.
The Forum in Muzaffarabad completed its first year on Monday. Founded by Tanveer Ahmad, a journalist, writer and civil society member, the response to the initiative has been “very encouraging.”
Mr. Ahmad roped in some acquaintances from Srinagar last week and discussed the “process of understanding” with “similar minded people” in Muzaffarabad, Gilgit, Mirpur and Hunza. This is the first such initiative since 1947 involving participants from all parts of Jammu and Kashmir, including Gilgit and Baltistan, annexed by Pakistan to its territory.
“It is a progression on my step-to-step approach to finding a solution for the Kashmir issue which has been hanging in the balance for 63 years” Mr. Ahmad told TheHindu by email from Mirpur. “My research and interaction with people in the region resulted in me coming to the conclusion that, without the development of civil society, working on a result-orientated solution is impossible.”
“The idea was to make it a weekly forum where I would invite anybody who had concern for or who took interest in the development of society, to identify issues of public importance and express their thoughts — in a manner that would over time enable our community to move in a direction that could take our society towards progress, sustainable development and enable us to make a contribution towards global civilisation,” he said. Educated in the United Kingdom, Mr. Ahmad, who has written columns in various newspapers in the country, has an emotional relationship with this part of Kashmir as he has relatives in Poonch district and they continue to practise Hinduism. He visited the State with his grandmother last year to meet his relatives.
Though only few people have joined the Forum from the Indian side, Mr. Ahmad said, “We are likely to expand it by next week as the word is spreading in a positive manner.”
“People representing all facets of society have taken part, particularly lawyers, political representatives [nationalist as well as ‘conformist'], journalists, academics and social workers. The average participation is about 10 people in each forum, though at times they have ranged from three to 40. The aim is for 10 to 12 people to participate in a one-and-half to two-hour session. All sessions are recorded either on video or audio,” he said, adding that the issues discussed include most aspects of governance and anything else that the public considers to be of collective importance.
Stating that the format of forum is subject to change as per suggestions by the participants, he said: “As the forum has evolved, I have narrowed the scope of discussion to two important and fundamental pillars which I feel society needs addressing, viz. the peaceful resolution of Kashmir issue and implementation of good governance.”
The initiative, according to Mr. Ahmad is going to help lay the foundation for an atmosphere conducive for peaceful resolution of the issue. “This can only be possible through greater understanding between various parts of the State,” he said, adding that confidence-building measures such as Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawalakot bus service and cross LoC trade are important beginners for this process. “But those need to be more vibrant and hassle-free” “Our initiative is to help the government across to dismantle the walls of hatred and animosity and replace them with bridges of peace and reconciliation,” Mr. Tanveer said.
