Srinagar, June 23: Army on Thursday held a seminar at Badami Bagh Cantonment here, a defence spokesman said in a statement. 
He said that seminar was a part of army’s effort to engage with all sections of the Kashmiri society to understand Kashmiri ethos, culture and aspirations.
He said the faculty members and students of University of Kashmir, Islamic University of Science and Technology, Awantipura and SSM College, Pattan participated in the seminar.   
“It was a historic occasion where the army interacted with Kashmiris in an intellectual forum and exchanged views and perceptions,” the spokesman said.
He said the seminar was chaired by Dilafroze Qazi. The speakers from the universities were Pirzada Amin, Afroz Bisati, Nadia Shah, Sameer Sheikh and Qurat-ul-Ain while those from the Army were Col Vikas Slathia and Maj Manleen Kaur.
“The seminar was followed by an open house discussion in which the students freely expressed their views on the future of Kashmir and the envisaged role of the youth in ensuring peace and security in the Valley,” the spokesman said. 
 He said the seminar was organized by the Corps of Signals under the aegis of the Chinar Corps and was opened by Brig RK Chaudhary.  
“Nearly 125 students, including girls who attended the seminar, were very appreciative of the quality of discussions and emphasized the need to move away from despondency to hope and confidence,” the spokesman said.
The General Officer Commanding of Srinagar based Chinar Corps Lt Gen S A Hasnain while delivering the closing address lauded the initiative on intellectual interaction and stressed that path to the future can only be charted through understanding and intellectual honesty.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 23 Jun 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 23 Jun 2011 18:30:00 GMT
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