MUZAFFARABAD, Aug 22: A 10-member group of peace demonstrators held a ‘symbolic peace march’ here on Thursday to advocate “peace and peaceful means to resolve conflicts.”

Six monks, two Buddhist students and two Chechen Muslims from Japan, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan started their march from the Central Press Club and walked around 800 metres on the main road of the capital amid tight security maintained by the police and plainclothesmen.

Junsei Terasawa, the Japanese leader of the group, and another monk played on the small tambourines with sticks as the ‘peace march’ proceeded towards Aziz Hotel Chowk on the Bank Road, with pedestrians and the people in passing by vehicles looking on in amazement.

Other members of the group carried a palanquin and three big banners in Urdu, English and Japanese languages inscribed with slogans on the purpose of the “Pakistan-India Prayer March for Peace -2002.”

Earlier, talking to reporters at the press club, Mr Terasawa said their visit to Kashmir was mainly because this region was the root cause of the military conflict between India and Pakistan ever since their independence.

“Kashmir is posing a real threat to the region of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. Peace is the urgent necessity between the two countries to avert the holocaust of such a war which will destroy people from all races, religions and ideologies,” said the 52-year old monk.

“We are here to give a message to the people of Kashmir that peace is the only way to resolve conflicts,”he said.