ISLAMABAD, March 10: A dinner hosted by Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri for participants of the Pugwash-sponsored International Conference on Kashmir here on Friday ended on a frenzied note.

Even after the dinner some fireworks continued with terse exchanges between some guests that included Kashmiri politicians from both sides of the divide and experts from India and Pakistan.

The pro-independence JKLF leader Yasin Malik who is also here for the conference stayed away from dinner as he did from the meeting of Pugwash delegates with President Gen Pervez Musharraf during the day.

In his opening remarks Mr Kasuri said: “We feel both the countries have suffered enough and we now need peace but we want peace that is durable.”

Indian High Commissioner Shiv Shankar Menon and foreign secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan also shared the high table with the Kashmir leaders and the Pugwash secretary-general and Pakistan chapter chief coordinator Talat Masood. At the outset of the Q/A session that followed dinner, Mr Kasuri told the media not to address any questions to the Indian High Commissioner or the foreign secretary. Most of the questions, some very pointed, were addressed to Mr Omar Abdullah who towards the end got quite worked up and told journalists to exercise restraint.

“Let’s look ahead and not get into the past which would embarrass many of us,” was his message to them. The National Conference President conceded that Kashmiris were disappointed with the pace of the peace process. Responding to a question he asserted that India should not shoot down proposals coming from Pakistan on the solution of the Kashmir issue no matter how ‘out of the box’ they may be. However, his suggestion was that they be discussed away from the media glare. He said his party backed a solution on the lines of greater autonomy on both sides of Jammu and Kashmir. In this context he referred to the resolution passed by the State Assembly and Legislative body in July 2000, a copy of which he presented to President Musharraf earlier in the day.

Mr Abdullah made his disappointment clear at the Indian government’s decision to withhold hardliner Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s passport. “No damage would have been done if Mr Geelani was given the passport. He would not have said anything here that he has not already said there,” he stated.

On the sore question of human rights violations in Kashmir, Mr Abdullah insisted it could not be taken in isolation and seen merely as the result of brutality and Indian security forces.

In reply to a question Mr Ghani Bhat said the first step for seeking a solution to Jammu and Kashmir issue was to go off the beaten track. “What we need to do is forget yesterday and ignore yesterday,” he observed.

He said President Musharraf had articulated the heart of Kashmiris when he talked of demilitarisation, self-governance and joint management of the Himalayan region. Terming these as important measures that could go a long way, he underlined that Kashmiris were still not clear on the first step. “A lot of spade work still needs to be done for that,” he stated.—Q.A.