NEW YORK, Feb 25: Speakers at an international conference on Kashmir on Thursday asked the Pakistan, India leaders to push the peace process in high gear and secure a just settlement acceptable to all parties to the festering dispute of Kashimir.

The speakers, at the two-day conference organized by the Washington-based Kashmiri-American Council (KAC), described the move to start Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service as a 'significant decision' that would help create as a cordial atmosphere to resolve the Kashmir problem.

Many speakers attributed the initiation of the current peace dialogue to the nuclearization of the region in 1998 that led to a renewed international pressure on India and Pakistan to resolve the underlying Kashmir dispute.

Mushahid Hussain, chairperson of the Pakistan Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the 1998 nuclear tests by India and Pakistan had created a "balance of terror" that has resulted in strengthening the movement for peace in the subcontinent.

Pakistan's UN Ambassador Munir Akram in his remarks noted: "For the first time, the two countries have to manage relations in a nuclearized environment". Ambassador Dennis Kux, head of the Wilson Centre for International Studies, said the nuclear tests had changed the dynamics of the situation.

Senator Mushahid Hussain in his assessment said two recent international reports, by the UN and the America's National Intelligence Agency, had given new urgency for resolving the Kashmir dispute.

The conference was attended by leading experts from different parts of the world as well as representatives of the parties concerned, sympathizers and neutral figures and supporters of region. Its theme is "Peace initiative in South Asia: Exploring Possible Options for Kashmir."

The conference had to be moved to the UN Plaza Hotel at the last minute after the United Nations reneged on its decision to allow the UN premises for the discussion on Kashmir, many believe under Indian government's pressure.

Ghulam Nabi Fai, KAC's executive director, said on Thursday that the U.N. had officially agreed to his request as far back as in July, but backed off Tuesday afternoon. The conference took place under the joint sponsorship of the KAC and the International Educational Development, a non-governmental organization (NGO)affiliated with the Economic and Social Council, a principal organ of the UN.

The Times of India's consulting editor, Dileep Paggiankar, who was among the speakers, regretted the Indian government's decision to bar the Kashmiri leaders, saying that any Kashmiri wishing to go anywhere should he allowed to travel.

Earlier, Dr Fai, welcoming the guests, made a strong case for the inclusion of Kashmiri representatives in the peace process. He said there could be no durable solution to the dispute if was not acceptable to the people of Kashmir.