Fantastic 2 days
Just spend two days in the audience at the International Conference on Kashmir sponsored by The Sajid Iqbal Foundation for Peace and Human Rights http://www.thesajidiqbalfoundation.com/
in collaboration with The Australia India Institute.
http://www.aii.unimelb.edu.au/
The conference was held at the most beautiful hotel and conference center on the edge of Dal Lake, the Sheri-i-Kashmir International Conference Center (SKICC) http://www.skicc.in/
The Conference was on Peacebuiding in Kashmir and what the next steps to take in terms of trade and commerce between India, Kashmir and Pakistan, opening up dialogue between all three parties, engaging the Kashmir youth of Kashmir in social peacebuilding and gathering academics, politician and social leaders to make recommendations for changes in policy.
Also discussed was the need to address Human Rights violations, the removal of the Special Forces Act which has been in place since the period of armed insurgency. Big on the agenda was the question of, is Kashmir ready for a transitional justice processes such as truth and reconciliation process and or truth commission?
It was so inspiring to be with academics that offered an international overview of the situation as well as local leaders and young people who presented their papers on what they thought a political solution would look like. We were all very impressed by the amount young people showing interest in peacebuilding instead of just arguing over politics.
The local paper Great Kashmir covered the conference article link below
.http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2012/Jun/20/young-minds-churn-out-roadmaps-for-k-resolution-21.asp
Of course there was also a portion of the two days dedicated to woman in Kashmir, their victim hood in the conflict was addresses but I am glad to say the discussion moved on to how to encourage women to become more connected to each other and become social and politically active.
Dr Nyla Khan, professor at Oklahoma University and author of many books on Kashmir
http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/K/Nyla.A.Khan-1/index.html
gave a great presentation on the effects of conflict on women but also gave theKashmiri historical example of women's unification in times of conflict. During Partition the women of Kashmir untied to form the Women's Self Defense Corp (WSDC). This indigenous grassroots movement of women came from all class backgrounds and were both Hindu, Sheik, Sunni and Shia Muslim. They formed to defend democracy, Kashmir territory and it's unique cultural. ( There are some great photos of this women's armed corp and historical information at the following link.) phttp://www.andrewwhitehead.net/kashmir-47-images.html Dr. Khan also talked on how today's Association for Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) has skillfully used the images and social status of the 'mother' to challenge the state and the justice system. In a conservative society such as Kashmir using the feminist framework to advocate for women's inclusion does not always work well, whereas the 'mother' framework always gets good buy in from the masses. Dr. Khan suggestion was to use the APDP's 'mother' framework and the example of women's unit of the WSDC to show women's agency, to encourage women to re-think and and update the female Kashmiri identity and advocate for women's inclusion in the social and political arenas
Due to years of conflict and turmoil women were more confined to the home and in order for woman to be active in peacebuilding today there is a need for women of all back grounds to once again interact and bridge the boundaries of age, class and religion like they have done in the past. Women do not need to pick up guns today, but instead wage peace skillfully with wisdom, truth and unity.
Just spend two days in the audience at the International Conference on Kashmir sponsored by The Sajid Iqbal Foundation for Peace and Human Rights http://www.thesajidiqbalfoundation.com/
in collaboration with The Australia India Institute.
http://www.aii.unimelb.edu.au/
The Conference was on Peacebuiding in Kashmir and what the next steps to take in terms of trade and commerce between India, Kashmir and Pakistan, opening up dialogue between all three parties, engaging the Kashmir youth of Kashmir in social peacebuilding and gathering academics, politician and social leaders to make recommendations for changes in policy.
Also discussed was the need to address Human Rights violations, the removal of the Special Forces Act which has been in place since the period of armed insurgency. Big on the agenda was the question of, is Kashmir ready for a transitional justice processes such as truth and reconciliation process and or truth commission?
It was so inspiring to be with academics that offered an international overview of the situation as well as local leaders and young people who presented their papers on what they thought a political solution would look like. We were all very impressed by the amount young people showing interest in peacebuilding instead of just arguing over politics.
The local paper Great Kashmir covered the conference article link below
.http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2012/Jun/20/young-minds-churn-out-roadmaps-for-k-resolution-21.asp
Of course there was also a portion of the two days dedicated to woman in Kashmir, their victim hood in the conflict was addresses but I am glad to say the discussion moved on to how to encourage women to become more connected to each other and become social and politically active.
Dr Nyla Khan, professor at Oklahoma University and author of many books on Kashmir
http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/K/Nyla.A.Khan-1/index.html
gave a great presentation on the effects of conflict on women but also gave theKashmiri historical example of women's unification in times of conflict. During Partition the women of Kashmir untied to form the Women's Self Defense Corp (WSDC). This indigenous grassroots movement of women came from all class backgrounds and were both Hindu, Sheik, Sunni and Shia Muslim. They formed to defend democracy, Kashmir territory and it's unique cultural. ( There are some great photos of this women's armed corp and historical information at the following link.) phttp://www.andrewwhitehead.net/kashmir-47-images.html Dr. Khan also talked on how today's Association for Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) has skillfully used the images and social status of the 'mother' to challenge the state and the justice system. In a conservative society such as Kashmir using the feminist framework to advocate for women's inclusion does not always work well, whereas the 'mother' framework always gets good buy in from the masses. Dr. Khan suggestion was to use the APDP's 'mother' framework and the example of women's unit of the WSDC to show women's agency, to encourage women to re-think and and update the female Kashmiri identity and advocate for women's inclusion in the social and political arenas
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