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Building a net-work of civil society peace activists on both sides of Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir 1999

Since 1998 South Asia Forum for Human Rights (SAFHR) in collaboration with its partners in India and Pakistan has been working for building and sustaining a civilian dialogue forum on democracy and peace in both India and Pakistan controlled Jammu and Kashmir. The objective was to develop a channel of communication between the peoples of the divided territories of Jammu and Kashmir as well as between and among the peoples of India and Pakistan on the question of building peace and strengthening democracy.

• Civil Society Meeting in Srinagar, June 2000.
  In collaboration with 27 Kashmir NGOs and the Indian National Chapter of Pakistan- India Peoples' Forum for Peace And Democracy (PIPFPD), SAFHR organised a five-day conference of Indian and Kashmiri civil society actors in Srinagar, in Indian controlled J & K. More than a decade after the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, an initiative was taken to regain  the lost civilian spaces of public debate. It resulted in the founding of  Jammu & Kashmir Federation of Civil Society Organisations (JKFCSO),  an apex body for civil society groups.

• Conference on "Rights of Kashmiri People" in Lahore, April, 2001.
  In collaboration with Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan National Chapter of PIPFPD, SAFHR fostered a network of human rights activists in Muzaffarbad in Pakistan controlled Jammu and Kashmir named the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

• Student Workshop, Srinagar, July 2001
  Five-day certificate course in human rights and constitutional law in collaboration with the Political Science Department,  Kashmir University.
  JKFCSO in India controlled Kashmir and Coalition of Civil Societies in Pakistan controlled Azad Kashmir motivated many individuals and groups in Jammu and Kashmir to participate in public discussions on a wide range of social, economic and political issues. This was a major breakthrough in an area where for over a decade, people did not talk in public because of the fear of the state or militants. SAFHR with the support of EED/EZE and ICCO continued in 2002 its work on strengthening civil society organisations in Kashmir.

• Dialogue Across the Kashmir Divide: Meeting of Civil Society Activists of the two J&Ks, Kathmandu, February 2002
• To explore strategies for strengthening the peace process in Kashmir.
• To build an international solidarity for Kashmir.
  Programme cancelled- His Majesty's Government of Nepal withdrew permission four days before under pressure of Indian and Pakistani governments who did not want Kashmiris from across the border to meet.

• Kashmir Strategy Group Meeting, Kathmandu, February 18-20, 2002
  Mr. I. A Rehman, Director of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Dr. Mubashir Hasan, former Finance Minister of Pakistan and a peace activist, Ms. Asma Jahangir, a prominent human rights lawyer of Pakistan, Dr. Siddiq Wahid, an academic and human rights activist from Indian held Kashmir, Mr. Murray Thompson, Director Peace Fund Canada, Ottawa and Dr. Shree Mulay, CERAS Montreal. Dr. Ranabir Samaddar, Ms. Rita Manchanda and Mr. Tapan Kumar Bose of SAFHR participated in the meeting.
  
  The participants expressed concern at the increasing tendency of governments in the region to restrict and undermine civil society efforts to network in support of the human rights and particularly democratic rights of the people of the region. However, the increasing anxiety shown by governments in relation to civil society regional activism, indexed the increasing importance of the task.