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In a positive development, leaders from both sides of Kashmir on Tuesday called for an end to violence in the valley to create conditions that will ensure the rule of law and the growth of economy.
A consensus statement issued after a three-day meeting of intellectuals and former bureaucrats, besides the leaders, held in Kathmandu as part of Track-II diplomacy, said the process of peace should be carried forward to seek, in a peaceful manner, an honourable and feasible solution to the Kashmir problem.
Welcoming the resumption of the composite dialogue process between India and Pakistan, the participants hoped that a sustained dialogue between the two countries will result in enhanced confidence and cooperation in areas of mutual interest. They hoped that such a dialogue will also lead to the resolution of all outstanding issues, including the Kashmir problem.
Hurriyat leaders Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Abdul Gani Bhat, former Pakistan-occupied Kashmir prime minister Sultan Mahmud, former defence secretary of Pakistan Lt Gen (Retd) Talat Masood, Jammu and
Kashmir Muslim Conference president Atiq Ahmed and J&K Liberation League chairman Majid Malik were among those who attended
the meet.
The conference also decided to hold another round of talks at the earliest to give continuation to the dialogue process at the people's level.
Future meetings and ways of continuing and intensifying the dialogue were also discussed at the conference, Paolo Cotta-Ramusino, secretary-general of Rome-based Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, which organised the meet, said in a press release.
"Jammu and Kashmir need not forever represent a chasm dividing Pakistan and India, but [it] can potentially be a bridge between these two great countries and transform the political and economic fortunes of South Asia," he said.