MUZAFFARABAD, Dec 10: Former AJK finance minister and ruling Muslim Conference secretary-general Shah Ghulam Qadir on Thursday strongly supported people-to-people contact between the divided parts of the Himalayan region of Kashmir and called for its augmentation so as to facilitate peaceful settlement of the Kashmir dispute.

Mr Qadir, who also heads the non-governmental Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR), said at a press conference that the meetings of the (Kashmiri) leaders from both parts alone were not enough till the process was extended to cover people from different walks of life.

"The people-to-people contact should not be confined to the top-level, but it should go to the grassroots level so that desired results are achieved from it," he said. He said that the upcoming Pugwash conference in Kathmandu was not an intra-Kashmiri dialogue because apart from the Kashmiri leaders, politicians and intellectuals from India and Pakistan had also been invited to it.

The US-based think-tank, Pugwash, is holding a three-day conference in the Nepalese capital from December 12. Mr Qadir said since the conference had attained wide publicity there were little chances of any result-oriented discussion in it.

"Nevertheless, I would say any effort or attempt to deliberate or work out peaceful settlement of Kashmir issue must be appreciated and encouraged." But Mr Qadir stressed that the Kashmiris' status as the principal party of the dispute should be kept in mind by other parties.

"People of Kashmir are the basic party, and no amicable solution could be found if they are kept out of the process." Mr Qadir pointed out that after the cease fire along the Line of Control in November last year, another significant development was the exchange of journalists' delegations from both sides.

But, as far as the held territory was concerned, there was no let-up in atrocities and human right abuses by the Indian forces, he said. He said declaration by President Pervez Musharraf that Gilgit and Baltistan were part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir was appreciable because it was for the first time in many years that a Pakistani ruler had publicly acknowledged this historic reality.

However, he added, he could not support division of Kashmir on ethnic or linguistic basis. "We cannot agree to or involve ourselves in any formula aimed at division of Kashmir." Division of Kashmir on ethnic grounds, Mr Qadir said, was negation of the Two Nation Theory and if enforced in Kashmir, it could engulf the whole of South Asia.

Mr Qadir seemed optimistic that an atmosphere conducive to resolution of Kashmir issue had emerged in the world and in such a situation "we should show firmness in our stand instead of showing unilateral flexibility."

In response to a question on participation of National Conference workers in the hunger strike of the APHC in Srinagar, he said it was good if pro-India elements were also condemning the human rights abuses of Indian army.