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Lahore peace meet put off

Nirupama Subramanian

Indian delegates denied visa

ISLAMABAD: The organisers of an India-Pakistan peace building and conflict resolution convention, scheduled to be held at the reputed Kinnaird College in Lahore from February 15 to 19, have indefinitely put off the event after the Pakistan Government turned down visas for Indian participants.

The day before the conference was due to start, they informally received word that their request for visas had been turned down. A few days later, the Pakistan Government confirmed this with an official letter. The organisers said they would try again for the visas, and hope to hold the convention, in Lahore, in April or October.

The Women in Security Conflict Management and Peace (WISCOMP) convention that annually brings together students, activists, policymakers and experts from both countries, was held the last five times at Lady Shri Ram College in New Delhi.

WISCOMP describes itself as "a Delhi-based research, training and praxis initiative" and works in collaboration with LSR and Kinnaird, both top-notch educational institutions. The organisers of the conference on both sides are disappointed. A WISCOMP release, much before the organisers knew about the rejection of the visa applications, said the organisation "has received consistent feedback from the workshop alumni on the need to hold a convention in Pakistan to broaden the circle of engagement."

The release spoke about the planned convention as signalling a new phase not only for WISCOMP but also for "forging strategic partnerships and collaborations for peace" between the two educational institutions involved, between individuals, and between civil society and policymaking towards "a shared future."

With the improvement in relations between the two states, the convention would "explore new avenues of multitrack efforts that will help expand circles of peace in the region", the release said.

Participants were to interact with Human Rights Commission of Pakistan director I.A. Rehman, journalists Ayaz Amir and Imtiaz Alam, the former Federal Minister Javed Jabbar, educationist and principal of Kinnaird Mira Phailbus and principal of Fatima Jinnah College Shama Khaliq.

The last convention in Delhi in October 2006 gave participants an opportunity to interact with Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, the former Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister's special envoy on the Indo-U.S. deal Shyam Saran, and rivers and water expert Ramaswamy Iyer, among others.

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