21 January 2004	Wednesday	28 Ziqa'ad 1424

MUMBAI, Jan 20: Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front leader Yasin Malik demanded on Tuesday the inclusion of Kashmiri people in the peace process initiated by India and Pakistan and made it clear that no solution which ignored them would be acceptable to the people of the region.

"Let the people of Kashmir have a chance to express their aspirations. We will accommodate security interests of India and Pakistan and they should accommodate our aspirations," said the JKLF leader at a seminar on the Kashmir issue at the World Social Forum.

The need for demilitarization of Kashmir, joint patrolling along the Line of Control and creating more openings for the Kashmiris to interact among themselves was emphasized.

The general consensus was that Kashmir was not a territorial dispute between India and Pakistan. Some speakers suggested that as neither side was ready to give up its control and claim, the LoC should be treated as the permanent boundary and the issue resolved on the basis of a federal secular political system.

Mr Malik, who had launched a signature campaign for a peaceful struggle, complained that while de-escalation of Indian troops had taken place along the LoC, there was no let-up in atrocities against the Kashmiris.

"For us there is no de-escalation. Everyday people are being killed and harassed," he said. It was emphasized in the seminar that as any attempt to resolve the issue militarily could plunge the region into a nuclear holocaust, India and Pakistan should "for the time being settle for the LoC as the border."