[Reader-list] Pak civil society condemns Kashmir killings

[Aditya Raj Baul]

Pak civil society condemns Kashmir killings


Rising Kashmir News
http://www.risingkashmir.com/?option=com_content&task=view&id=24940

Islamabad, July 11: Participants of a civil society dialogue held in
Islamabad on Sunday condemned the recent civilian killings in Kashmir.

The participants reminded Government of India its obligation to protect the
right to life in accordance with international law. They unanimously
demanded the revocation of Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) to improve
the ground situation and conduct an independent inquiry into the use of
excessive force against the civilians including many children in the valley.

The participants including civil society activists, politicians,
legislators, journalists, former government officials from Pakistan
administered Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and refugees settled in Pakistan were
holding deliberations as part of civil society dialogue titled “Chinars' Old
Leaves are Falling - Fresh Saplings in the First Citizens' Dialogue on
Kashmir” jointly organized by the Centre for Peace, Development and Reforms
(CPDR) and the Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung fur die Freiheit (FNF), supported
by the European Union.

They also extended full support to the India-Pakistan dialogue ahead of the
India-Pakistan foreign ministers’ meeting to be held on July 15 in
Islamabad.

The participants unanimously agreed that sustained and long term engagement
along with people to people interaction between the masses such as civil
society, media and law makers of two countries is a primary need essential
to solve all outstanding disputes in the region through peaceful means.

They strongly urged India and Pakistan to take effective and assertive
measures making the renewed process meaningful, productive and result
oriented “so that people of Jammu and Kashmir across LoC could own and
wholeheartedly support the peace process in the long run”.

The participants while appreciating the Confidence Building Measures (CBM),
taken by both governments in past demanded they take some creative steps to
make them more meaningful and hassle free. They asked Delhi and Islamabad to
further facilitate intra-Kashmir travel and trade.