India Pakistan Conference

A Road map towards Peace

Organisations part of the Initiative: ANHAD, Centre for Policy Analysis, COVA, Focus on the Global South, India, Heinrich Bll Stiftung, Hind-Pak Dosti Manch, Peace Mumbai, SAHR, SANGAT, SAPA.
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Concept Note
India and Pakistan constitute a volatile region of Asia. Distrust, suspicion and hostility has flared into wars and conflict on occasion, and kept relations between the two countries simmering even in the best of times. Efforts to improve bilateral ties in the past few years have been sporadic, although the composite dialogue formalized through a joint a statement between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf was significant, with tremendous potential. Four rounds were completed and the fifth in progress when the 26th November 2008 attacks on Mumbai derailed the entire process that the two governments have not been able to bring back on track. The joint statement at Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Reza Gilani was not able to break the stalemate for a variety of reasons, foremost being strong opposition to some of the provisions in India. Despite declaring the peace process to be irreversible at one point in time, both governments have gone back to a status quo where the visa regime has become more stringent, where visits and meetings are again not being encouraged, where fingers are constantly being pointed at each other in accusation, and where peace is again being held hostage by allegations and threats. The importance of dialogue and communication between the two nuclear armed neighbours cannot be over-emphasised, as war has to be avoided at all costs. And peace ushered in through concerted and calibrated effort. It is with this in view that several organizations and individuals have come together to organize the India-Pakistan: A Road Map Towards Peace. The idea is to get experts and activists who have spent their lives promoting peace on the same platform to map out a charter for peace and exert pressure on both governments to pursue peace as an ideology and commitment for the development of India, Pakistan and indeed South Asia. It is with reason that we have invited political leaders from both India and Pakistan to add their voice to our efforts, particularly in the first session A Road Map Towards Peace. This will set the tone and tenor for the conference that will then move into an important session Peace and Security in South Asia where the speakers will deal with the region, including Afghanistan, the rise of religious extremism, the presence of Nato and US forces, and the impact this is having on peace and progress. The role of the state in suppressing peoples struggles is a major impediment to peace in the region. Kashmir remains crucial to the peace process. Balochistan, that has found mention for the first time in a joint India and Pakistan statement, is also home to a secular struggle. A session to discuss both Kashmir and Balochistan was seen by us as necessary and leaders from the two regions will be speaking at the conference as well. Climate change and its impact on India Pakistan relations becomes particularly relevant today, with water wars emerging as a real possibility. Trade and business remains crucial to peace as does the media that has often fanned war, and actively disrupted the peace process. Experts in all these fields will be discussing what has not been done, and what can be done for lasting peace between India and Pakistan. Of course, given the overriding role of the United States in the region no conference on India and Pakistan can be complete without a thorough discussion on militancy, joint mechanism and the role of the US. We hope that the three days of the conference will contribute to not just a better understanding of the issues involved, but also leave us with concrete suggestions that will then be worked into a Road Map for Peace that will be submitted to the two governments for consideration and action.

10th January

09.00 10.00 10.00 10.30

Registration Welcome & Inaugural Kuldip Nayar (Chairperson, Organizing Committee & Veteran Journalist)

10.30 11.45

A Road map towards Peace Aitzaz Ahsan (Former President, Supreme Court Bar Association, Pakistan) Mehbooba Mufti (President Peoples Democratic Party) Admiral L. Ramdas (Former Chief of Naval Staff, Indian Navy) Mani Shankar Aiyar (Former Union Minister) Chair: Seema Mustafa (Senior Journalist)

11.45 12.30 12.30 13.30 13.30 15.00

Questions, Comments, Discussions Lunch Peace and Security in South Asia Iqbal Haider (Former Law Minister, Pakistan) Salman Haider (Former Foreign Secretary, India) Kamal Chenoy (Prof. of International Relations, JNU) Chair: A. H. Nayar (Physicist & peace activist, Islamabad)

15.00 16.00 16.00 16.30 18.00 20.00

Questions, Comments, Discussions Tea Book release Bridging Partition: People's initiatives for peace between India and Pakistan Edited by Smitu Kothari, Zia Mian, Kamla Bhasin, A.H. Nayar and Mohd. Tahseen at India Islamic Cultural Center

11th January

09.30 10.30

Multiculturalism and Federalism in South Asia Asma Jehangir (Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, UN special rapporteur on freedom of religion & belief) Malik Siraj Akbar (Senior Journalist, Quetta, Pakistan) Bizenjo Hasil Khan, (Senator, Balochistan, Pakistan)

10.30-11.45

Issue of Autonomy: Kashmir Yasin Malik (Leader, JKLF) Sajjad Lone (President, Peoples Conference) Chair: Rajendra Sacchar (Retd. Chief Justice, Delhi High Court & PUCL)

11.45 12.30 12.30 13.30 13.30 14.30

Questions, Comments, Discussions Lunch Climate Change and its impact on Indo-Pak Relations Dr. Abid Suleri (Executive Director, Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Pakistan) Dr. Vandana Shiva (Founder, Navdanya) Farooq Tariq (Spokesperson, Pakistan Labour Party) Amb. Chandrashekhar Dasgupta (Distinguised Fellow, TERI) Chair : Lalita Ramdas (Chair of the Green Peace International Board)

14.30 15.00 15.00 16.15

Questions, Comments, Discussions Trade as an instrument of peace Muchkund Dubey (Former Foreign Secretary, India) Ravi Wig (Chairman SAARC, ASSOCHAM) Akbar Zaidi (Leading Pakistani Economist) Chair: Dr. Biswajit Dhar (Director General, Research and Information Systems for Developing Countries)

16.15 17.00 17.00 - 17.30

Questions, Comments, Discussions Tea

12th January

09.30 11.30

Militancy, joint mechanism and role of the US Amitabh Mattoo (Prof. International Politics, JNU & Member of the National Knowledge Commission) Ayesha Siddiqa (Security Analyst, Strategic Affairs Columnist, Pakistan) Rajiv Sikri (Former Secretary, MEA, India) Sajjad Lone (President, Peoples Conference) Chair : I.A. Rehman (Human Rights Commission of Pakistan)

11.30 12.30 12.30 13.30 13.30 14.45

Questions, Comments, Discussions Lunch Media & Culture in War and Peace B. Murlidhar Reddy (Journalist , The Hindu , based in Sri Lanka) Liaqat Ali Toor (Journalist, Associated Press of Pakistan, based in Delhi) Kuldip Nayar (Veteran Journalist) Mahesh Bhatt (Film Maker) Madeeha Gauhar (Theatre Director and Women Rights Activist, Pakistan) Chair: Ved Bhasin (Editor, Kashmir Times)

14.45 15.30 15.30 17.00

Questions, Comments, Discussions Declaration & plan of action Chair : Kamla Bhasin (Peace, Human & Women Rights activist)

Brief Profile of Speakers

Kuldip Nayar Kuldip Nayars is a well known journalist having been editor of The Statesman and the Indian Express. He has also worked earlier with The Times, Gemini News Service and The Spectator. He was a member of the Press Council of India, a member of the National Integration Council, the Chairman of Transparency International (India) and the Chairman of Citizens for Democracy. Nayar was appointed High Commissioner to Great Britain in 1990, and returned to become a member of the Rajya Sabha in August 1997. He has been relentless in his pursuit of peace between India and Pakistan. He is the author of several books including "Between the Lines, "Distant Neighbours: A Tale of the Subcontinent, "India after Nehru", "Wall at Wagah, India-Pakistan Relationship", "The Martyr", "Scoop", "India House", and "India-The Critical Years." In 1999 he was awarded an Alumni Merit Award by Northwestern University. Aitzaz Ahsan In 1975, Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan was elected to the Punjab Assembly, from which he resigned in protest against police violence on lawyers. He was expelled from the Pakistan Peoples Party. After 1977 Ahsan became involved in the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy, and joined the PPP again after the country came under martial law. He was elected to the National Assembly as a PPP candidate in 1988, serving as Minister for Law and Justice. He contested and won the elections in 1990 and lost in 1993. In 1994 Ahsan was elected to the Pakistan Senate where he sat as Leader of the Opposition until 1999. He was re-elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan as a Peoples Party candidate in the 2002 General Elections. A Senior Advocate in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Ahsan led the lawyers protest in Pakistan against then President Pervez Musharrafs efforts to clamp down on the judiciary and is recognized as a leading figure in Pakistan politics. He is also a human rights activist and a founder and vice president of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. He has been awarded the Asian Human Rights Defender Award by the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). Mehbooba Mufti Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed is at present the president of the Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party. She is a member of the 14th Lok Sabha, representing the Anantnag constituency of Jammu and Kashmir. When elections for the state assembly were held in 1996, Mehbooba was elected from Bijbehara on an Indian National Congress ticket. Mehbooba quickly made a mark as the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, taking on the government of then chief minister Farooq Abdullah with asperity. When Mufti split from the Indian National Congress to form the Jammu & Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party in 1999, she became party vice-president. She resigned her assembly seat and went on to contest the parliamentary elections in 1999 from Srinagar, where she lost but won the Pahalgam seat in the state assembly from south Kashmir, when assembly elections were held again in 2002. She was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2004 and was a prominent member of the ruling Congress Party-led coalition. She has been actively campaigning for more autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir on the basis of a detailed report prepared by the PDP.

Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas Admiral Ramdas has served in the Indian Navy from 1953 to 1993, and has been active as Chief of Navy in the years of 1990 to 1993. Since his retirement, Admiral Ramdas has become a Member of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace, and is active as Chairperson of Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy (India Chapter). The Admiral became an advocate for demilitarisation and peaceful resolution of the Indo-Pak problems. In 2004, Admiral Ramdas has been awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding for "reaching across a hostile border to nurture a citizen-based consensus for peace between Pakistan and India". Mani Shankar Aiyar Mani Shankar Aiyar served for 26 years in the IFS. He became a politician working for Rajiv Gandhi in 1989-1991. Aiyar entered Parliament as a Congress MP from Mayiladuthurai in 1991. He is a member of the Indian National Congress party and was Panchayati Raj Minister until 2009. He served as Union Cabinet Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas from May 2004 through January 2006 and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports until 2008, and Minister of Development of North Eastern Region through May 2009. Aiyar is National Convener of his Partys Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Raj Sangathan. He is a wellknown political columnist and has written several books, including Pakistan Papers and Confessions of a Secular Fundamentalist, as also edited a four-volume publication, Rajiv Gandhi's India. Seema Mustafa Seema Mustafa has worked with various newspapers including Patriot, Indian Express, The Telegraph, Economic Times and more recently The Asian Age and political magazine Covert. During a long career Mustafa has covered most general elections in India, as well state elections in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir, communal violence all over the country including Assam and Punjab and UP. She has also covered the 1982 war in Beirut being the only Indian journalist to get there. Mustafa covered and wrote extensively on the separatist movement in Punjab, from the first morcha to Operation Bluestar. She writes on Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan, and Indian foreign policy in general. Iqbal Haider Iqbal Haider is a Senior Advocate Supreme Court and Co-Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Haider has also been a Senator, a Federal Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and the Attorney General of Pakistan. Haider is known for his criticism of the Pakistani Armys involvement of the Army in the political affairs of the country. He was a founding member of the Movement for Restoration of Democracy ("MRD"). He later joined the PPP where he acted as the Advisor to the Chief Minister Sindh, He was the President of the Pakistan Peoples Party Karachi Division, Vice- President of Pakistan Peoples Party Sindh and member of the Central Executive Committee of the PPP. In 2005, Haider resigned from the PPP to pursue his human rights interests. He has done extensive work for victims of honour killing, bonded labour, and missing persons.

Salman Haider Salman Haider is a retired diplomat who was foreign secretary in the government of India. Educated at St Stephens College and Cambridge University, he has also served as Ambassador to China and Bhutan as well as High Commissioner to the UK. He was the first to identify with his then Pakistan counterpart the issues that have formed the basis of discussion in the IndiaPakistan composite dialogue. Haider is a keen advocate of peace, and has taken part in several initiatives towards this end even after retirement. Kamal Chenoy Professor Kamal Mitra Chenoy teaches at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. He is also acting as MA Faculty advisor of International Relations. He is a political commentator and also an activist on peace and human rights. He is a founder member of the Pakistan India Forum for Peace and Democracy and Vice president of the All India Peace and Solidarity Organization. A. H. Nayyar Adbul Hameed Nayyar is a physicist, retired from Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad. He is currently the Director of Ali Institute of Education, Lahore. Since 1998 he has held a visiting position at Princeton University. Since retiring in 2005, he has been involved in running the Renewable Energy/Clean Fuel program at SDPI. Nayyar is a member of the Global Council of Abolition 2000, a member of the Steering Committee of the Asian Peace Alliance, co-Convener of Pugwash Pakistan, and a member of the Board of Governors of Focus on the Global South, Bangkok. In the area of renewable energy, the energy group at SDPI that he helped establish, has studied the question of marketability of renewable energy technologies with a view to identifying policy measures that could promote their use in Pakistan. Asma Jehangir Asma Jehangir has been active as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief since 2004. Prior to this she has been the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary and Summary Executions. She is a founding member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and has served as Secretary-General and later Chair of the organization. In the 1980s Jahangir helped form the Women's Action Forum. In 1986 Jahangir established AGHS Legal Aid, the first free legal aid centre in Pakistan. She has also been active in protecting the rights of religious minorities in Pakistan. Jehangir received the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, the Ramon Magsaysay award in 1995, as well as the Millennium prize, by UNIFEM (the United Nations Development Fund for Women) in collaboration with International Alert in 2001. In 2005 she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize under the 1000 Women for Peace project. Malik Siraj Akbar Malik Siraj Akbar is editor-in-chief of the Baloch Hal, the first online English newspaper of Balochistan. He is also is working as the Balochistan Bureau Chief of Pakistans Daily Times. Malik has extensively covered the military operation in Balochistan, the issue of enforced disappearances, human rights violation, mega projects, sectarian killings, religious radicalization and activities of Taliban and their supporters inside Balochistan.

Bizenjo Hasil Khan Bizenjo Hasil Khan is Baloch politician and Senator. He has been a member of the Parliament between 1990 and 1993, as well as 1997-1999. Hasil is currently the Vice President of the Balochistan National Party. He has taken active part in the activities within Parliament being a member of the standing committees on states and frontier regions, housing and works as well as Industries and Production. Yasin Malik Yasin Malik is the chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front. He has spent six years at a stretch in jail, and has been imprisoned several times. In 1994 Yasin Malik renounced violence and from then on has supported peaceful methods for a settlement of the Kashmir issue. He considers the Hindu Kashmiris to be an integral part of Kashmiri society and has been insisting on their right of return. Sajjad Lone Sajjad Gani Lone is a Kashmiri politician, who left Kashmir's main separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference in 2002. He is now the chairman of People's Conference. In the 2009 Indian general election he stood as an independent candidate in Baramulla, becoming the third pro government separatist leader to stand in a general election in Jammu and Kashmir in 20 years. He was defeated by the National Conference candidate Sharifuddin Shariq. In 2007 Lone put forward a peace plan called "Achievable Nationhood", a plan for unification and autonomy of Kashmir. He is the son of the well known slain leader Abdul Ghani Lone. Rajinder Sachar Rajinder Sachar started his career as an advocate in Simla, and went on to become the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. He also worked in the Supreme Court and is today widely recognized for the Sachar committee report that was set up by the government to examine the social, economic and educational status of Muslims in India. Sachar has also worked for the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities and as the UN Special Rapporteur on Housing. Sachar has served as President of the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties. Abid Suleri Dr. Abid Qaiyum Suleri is a specialist in Food Security, Regional integration, Institutional Reforms, Disaster Management and Sustainable Natural Resources Governance in Pakistan. Suleris work Social Dimensions of Globalization: A case of Pakistan has been named as Publication of Most Importance in Year 2004 by NCCR. Suleri works in numerous government committees in the Planning Commission and ministries of Commerce, Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Environment. He has been part of the Pakistani delegation at the Doha and Cancun Ministerial Conferences of WTO as well as World Food Summit (FYL). Suleri has worked for OXFAM GB having served as Head of the Pakistan Programs, before joining the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, of which he is the Executive Director since 2007. Vandana Shiva Vandana Shiva is originally a physicist, having written her Doctoral Thesis on Hidden Variables and Non-locality in Quantum Theory". She then shifted the focus of her work to interdisciplinary research in science, technology and environmental policy. She has fought for changes in the

practice and paradigms of agriculture and food and has contributed extensively to issues concerning intellectual property rights, biodiversity, biotechnology, bioethics, genetic engineering. Shiva has assisted grassroots organizations of the Green movement with the campaign against genetic engineering. In 1982, she founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, that led to the setting up of the organisation Navdanya. Shiva has also served as an adviser to governments in India and abroad as well as non governmental organisations, including the International Forum on Globalisation, the Women's Environment & Development Organization and the Third World Network. Vandana Shiva participated in the Stock Exchange of Visions project in 2007. She is a councillor of the World Future Council. Vandana Shiva has received the Right Livelihood Award (Alternative Nobel Prize), Global 500 Award of UNEP, the Earth Day International Award of the UN, as well as the Save The World Award. Farooq Tariq Farooq Tariq is with the Labour Party of Pakistan. He is the Secretary of Pakistans Kissan Rabita Committee and a member of the steering committee of Pakistans Social Forum. Tariq is the Publisher of weekly Mazdoor Jeddojuhd in Pakistan. He is also a Member of the Joint Action Committee for Peoples Rights in Lahore Tariq works on various regional issues and committees, such as the South Asian Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE), and South Asian caucus, as well as the Asia Europe Peoples Forum. Amb. Chandrashekhar Dasgupta Mr. Chandrashekhar Dasgupta served in the Indian Foreign Service from 1962 to August 2000. During his diplomatic career he held the following posts: Ambassador to the EU, Belgium and Luxembourg (1996-2000); Ambassador to China (1993-1996); Additional Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs (1989-1993); Ambassador & Deputy Permanent Representative at the United Nations, New York (1986-1989); High Commissioner in Tanzania (1984-1986); High Commissioner in Singapore (1981-1983). Dasgupta's interests include international affairs, modern history and global environmental issues. He is a Distinguished Fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), where he is engaged on research on Climate Change and sustainable development issues. He is the advisor to the government on climate change since 2002. He is the author of War and Diplomacy in Kashmir 1947-48. Lalita Ramdas Lalita Ramdas has worked as a simple community-level non-formal educator in Delhi's slums for years; participated in street theatre to raise awareness on dowry, rape, and a number of gender issues; interacted with education policymakers; and founded Ankur, a society for alternatives in education, founding initiatives in development education in a number of Delhi's elite schools. She has strongly opposed and spoken about the desecration and the deep-rooted prejudices in society against the Muslim minority. Ramdas is involved with several initiatives for Peace and Peace Education - especially on the Communal Question, on India Pakistan Relations and the Nuclear Issue. Ramdas is a member of the Pakistan India Forum, and has helped develop a peace education program for South Asian youth.

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Ramdas recently took upon a more rural way of life and currently lives in a village in Maharashtra. There, she and her husband have set up a local trust to work on health and education.She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005. Muchkund Dubey Professor Muchkund Dubey is a former foreign secretary. He has also served as High Commissioner to Bangladesh, as well as Permanent Representative to the UNO. He is currently the President of the Council for Social Development (CSI), and the Chairman of the Asian Development Research Institute Dubey researches a wide array of issues related to world economy, international monetary and trading systems, security and disarmament, South Asian cooperation and international relations, as well as teaching Development studies at Postgraduate level. Ravi Wig Mr. Ravi Wig was born at Gujranwala (Punjab) now in Pakistan. He did his Graduation in Economics, from Punjab University. For his Post-Graduate studies, he went to England and did his MBA from Bristol University in 1960. While in England he was President of the Bristol Indian Assn. On his return he joined the family Construction company WIG BROTHERS, (B&E) Ltd. And was its Managing Director and Chairman. He has also been President of PHD Chamber of Commerce, Malwa Builders Assn, Indo American Chamber of Commerce, MES Builders Association of India. He is also associated with the Trustee Employees Provident Fund, Member Managing Committee and Chairman, SAARC of ASSOCHAM, Member Managing Committee, FICCI, Chairman Northern Region Development Council (PHDCCI), Chairman Indo Pak Committee, Chairman of Employers Federation of India (NR), and Member Unorganized Sector Workers Board. S. Akbar Zaidi S. Akbar Zaidi is a Karachi-based social scientist who specializes in the field of political economy. He taught at Karachi University for nearly fifteen years and continues to lecture at universities in Pakistan and abroad. More recently (2004-05) he was Visiting Professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Zaidi has published twelve books, two of which, Issues in Pakistan's Economy (OUP, 1999) and The New Development Paradigm: Papers on Institutions, NGOs, Gender and Local Government (OUP, 1999), have become standard textbooks for graduate and postgraduate courses on Pakistan's economy and Development Economics, both in Pakistan and abroad. He has been published in numerous international professional journals on themes as diverse as devolution, health sociology, local government, fiscal policy, and international financial institutions. Dr. Biswajit Dhar (RIS) Dr. Biswajit Dhar is Professor and Head of the Centre for WTO Studies at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. He has been nominated by the Government of India as a member of expert groups for providing advice on trade and development strategies. He was also a member of the official Indian delegation to WTO Ministerial Conferences. Dr. Dhar has been working with the UNDP, UNCTAD, UNESCAP. He is now the Director General of Research and Information System for Developing Countries. Amitabh Mattoo Professor Amitabh Mattoo is currently a Professor of International Politics at JNU, as well as a Member of the National Knowledge Commission, a high-level advisory group to the Prime Minister

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of India. He is also President-designate of the Indian Association of International Studies. He was also the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jammu. Mattoo has been a visiting Professor at Stanford University, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign. Professor Mattoo serves on the Governing council of Pugwash. He has been a member of India's National Security Council's Advisory Board and was also a member of the task force constituted by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Global Strategic Developments. Mattoo has received one of Indias highest civillian awards, Padma Shri, he was nominated Shehjar""Kashmiri Person of the Year-2008", awarded the Qimpro Platinum Standard Award (2008)and was recognised as a National Statesman for his work in the field of education. Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa is an independent security analyst and strategic affairs columnist of Pakistan. She writes regularly for Dawn, and earlier has done so for the Daily Times. She has written for journals such as Journal for Defence and Peace Economics, Jane's Defence Weekly and the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Dr. Siddiqa has been the first woman and first civilian to work as the Director of Naval Research with Pakistan Navy. She worked as a Deputy Director in Audit Defence Services Lahore Cantt. She is also a Ford Fellow and was the 'Pakistan Scholar' at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at Washington, DC for 2004-05. Dr. Siddiqas books include: Pakistan's Arms Procurement and Military Buildup, 1979-99: In Search of a Policy, Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan's Military Economy. She has done work on small arms and light weapons proliferation, problems of governance and India-Pakistan relations. Rajiv Sikri Rajiv Sikri joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1970. He retired as Secretary (East) in Indias Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), handling East Asia, ASEAN, Pacific region, Arab world, Israel, Iran, and Central Asia. He has also been Additional/Special Secretary for Economic Relations supervising Indias foreign economic relations, including Indias external technical and economic assistance programmes to developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Mr. Sikri was Indias Ambassador to Kazakhstan (1995-99). He has also served twice in Moscow, New York, Paris and Kathmandu. He has been Head of the Soviet and East European Department and MEA. Mr. Sikri has been Additional Secretary for Strategic Policy and Research, Director (Policy Planning) in MEA (1984), and Senior Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi. He was a Consultant with the Institute of South Asian Studies, NUS, a member of the IISS, London; and the Royal Institute for International Affairs (Chatham House), London. I.A. Rehman Ibn Abdur Rehman is a Pakistani peace and human-rights advocate, who in 1989, became chief editor of the Pakistan Times. He is founding chair or the Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy and since 1990, director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Rehman has been influential for promoting peace in the Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts and in Kashmir as well as for other human-rights issues in Pakistan. In 2004, he received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Peace and International Understanding.

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B. Muralidhar Reddy B. Muralidhar Reddy has been working as a Special Correspondent of the Indian daily, The Hindu since 1990. Reddys journalistic career has included working for the weekly Mainstream, the English daily, and National Herald. During his work for The Hindu, he has reporting on trade unions and health, national parties, including the ruling Congress (1990-96), United Front (1996-98) and non-Congress opposition, covering several national and provincial elections and the Indian Election Commission extensively. For several years, he reported proceedings of the Indian Parliament and work of Government of India Ministries including Indian Railways. As The Hindus Pakistan correspondent since 2000, Reddy has reported extensively on the ups and downs of India-Pakistan relations, pre and postTaliban related developments in Afghanistan and pre and post-9/11 era from Islamabad. He contributes regularly to The Hoot, and to Pakistani dailies like The News and Dawn. He is currently The Hindus Sri Lanka and Maldives correspondent based in Colombo since June 2006. Liaqat Ali Toor Liaqat Ali Toor has been an active journalist for over three decades with numerous journals and magazines in Pakistan. He has traveled widely, covering numerous political issues and aspects of international relations. He is now working with Associated Press of Pakistan. Mahesh Bhatt Mahesh Bhatt is a Indian film director, producer and screenwriter. Bhatt comes from a mixed Kashmiri family of Hindu Brahmins and Muslims. Bhatt has been awarded 1984 Filmfare Best Screenplay Award for Arth in 1984, Filmfare Best Story Award for Saaransh in 1985, National Film Award - Special Jury Award for Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke in 1994 and Filmfare Best Story Award for Zakhm in 1999. Bhatt is actively promoting peace between the neighbouring countries through artistic as well as social activities. He encourages Pakistani artistic participation in various aspects of the Indian film industry, so as to merge cultural bridges and urge cooperation between the two. Madeeha Gauhar Madeeha Gauhar is a Pakistani theatre director. Having founded the Ajoka theatre in 1983, her troops and plays have been seen all throughout South Asia. Since the very existence of her theatre, the work she has done was highly controversial and politically challenging, with the very first play performed in Lahore in defiance of strict censorship laws. The topics of the plays range from fundamentalism, honour killings and censorship, to bonded labour, and discriminatory laws against women. Gauhar organized 3 Indo-Pak Panj Pani Theatre Festivals, and has conducted theatre training workshops in different parts of Pakistan for community, women minority rights activists and Children. She was also among the founders of Womens Action Forum, and was awarded TamghaI-Imtiaz for her contribution to art and culture of social commitment in 2003. Ved Bhasin Ved Bhasin is the Founder-editor of the Kashmir Times, and is currently the chairman of Kashmir Times Group of Newspapers. Bhasin is also the President of Jammu and Kashmir Forum for Peace, Justice and Democracy, the President of Jammu and Kashmir Cultural Forum, Chairman of Jammu Consumers Council, Jammu Arts Council, and is President of Jammu and Kashmir Association of Journalists. Bhasin is currently the Vice President of Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy (Indian chapter).

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Bhasin is associated with human rights groups, the Pakistan-India Forum for Peace and Democracy, South Asians for Human Rights, and South Asian Forum for Human Rights. He was appointed as a member to the prestigious "Jammu & Kashmir Rehabilitation Committee" which is headed by the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Kamla Bhasin Kamla Bhasin started her career working for the empowerment of the rural and urban poor in 1972, with a voluntary organization in Rajasthan. She has proceeded to work for FAO of the UN from 1976 to 2001, for the Freedom from Hunger Campaign/Action for Development, which focused on supporting innovative NGO initiatives for development and empowerment of marginalized people, especially women, in South East Asia and South Asia. Currently, Bhasin works with South Asian Network of Gender Activists and Trainers as an advisor; with JAGORI, Womens Resource and Training Centre as an active member; and with South Asians for Human Rights as a Bureau member, she also co-chairs Peace Women Across the Globe. Over the years, Bhasin has conducted participatory, experiential, capacity-building workshops for women and men, focused on gender, sustainable development and human rights at local, national and South Asian levels. Bhasin is also a founder-member or member of several women's groups and voluntary organizations in India.

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Organisers
Shabnam Hashmi ANHAD anhad.delhi@gmail.com S.P. Shukla Centre for Policy Analysis

Media Coordinators
Anil Sinha +91-9312045408

sinhaa43@gmail.com
Manasi Sharma +91-9818809018 anhad.delhi@gmail.com Jatin Desai +91-9869077718 jatin@focusweb.org

cpa.cpadel@gmail.com
Mazher Hussain COVA covanetwork@gmail.com Meena Menon Focus on the Global South- India focusindia@focusweb.org Dr Michael Koeberlein Heinrich Boell Stiftung india@hbfasia.org Kuldip Nayar Hind-Pak Dosti Manch

kuldipnayar75@yahoo.com
Coalition of Networks Peace Mumbai peacemumbai@gmail.com Dhananjay Tripathi SAHR dhananjayjnu@gmail.com Kamla Bhasin SANGAT sangat@sangatsouthasia.org P V Rajagopal SAPA secretariat.sapa@gmail.com

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