A ‘Cross-LoC Youth Conference 2018’ gathered youth and academics from different regions of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday in London to discuss the issues concerning the region.
The conference was part of one-day conference on Kashmir titled “Beyond Borders: Engagement and Dialogue Across Kashmir” organised by a Kashmir based think-tank, The Kashmir Institute, in collaboration with the South Asia Institute of reputed SOAS, University of London.
The organisers had divided the conference in two sessions – “Bridging Divide: Cross LoC Youth Conference 2018” – which was two session round-table discussion under Chatham rules between over a dozen students and scholars representing Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Jammu division, Kashmir division, and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The afternoon session of the conference was a public panel discussion titled “Kashmir Beyond Borders: Peace, Engagement and Dialogue across Line of Control” where Dr. Khalid Wasim (University of Cambridge), Dr. Goldie Osuri (University of Warwick), Dr. Mehroosh Tak (SOAS, University of London), Prof. Zafar Kahan (Formerly from London Metropolitan University), Victoria Schofield (Author and commentator), spoke in a session chaired by Dr. Navtej Purewal (Deputy Director, SOAS South Asia Institute).
In her opening remarks, Dr. Navtej Purewal, the Deputy Director of the SOAS South Asia Institute, thanked The Kashmir Institute for partnering with the department in organising such a vibrant conference. “We are really glad to collaborate on this initiative and hope we can take this conversation ahead in near future,” she said.
In the youth conference, participants gave the perspectives of their respective regions including sharing their experiences of how they relate to the ongoing conflict of the Jammu and Kashmir. The concluding outcome of the conference was that there has to be more intra-dialogue, regional connectivity within different regions has to increase, people to people contact should be facilitated and the Line of Control should not be seen as detrimental in finding a solution to the pending Kashmir issue.