ISLAMABAD, Sept 29: A group of 18 senior journalists from Muzaffarabad and other places will visit Jammu, Srinagar and New Delhi from October 3 to 9 on the invitation of the Indian chapter of the South Asian Free Media Association (Safma).

The Members of the delegation will also take part in two-day conference on "Resolution of inter-state conflicts in South Asia" in New Delhi to be held under the auspices of SAFMA-India, says a press release.

This will be followed by a return visit of media persons from Jammu and Kashmir and other places, who have been writing on Kashmir affairs, to Muzaffarabad, Gilgit, Islamabad and Lahore from November 19 to 26.

During their return visit, the Indian journalists will also attend the fourth Safma regional conference on "Reconciliation Processes in South Asia" in Lahore on November 20-21, which will bring together more than 250 journalists from South Asia.

This exchange, the first of its type in 57 years, is intended to provide an opportunity to media persons to asses themselves the situation, on the two sides and, thus, perform their job objectively. In both the cases, the visiting journalists will be free to meet representatives of the cross- section of political and the public opinion.

This initiative follows the recent decision of Saarc to accord recognition to Safma - an acknowledgement of the constructive role of the organization in the region. The Safma initiative has been facilitated by the action of the governments of India and Pakistan in easing the visa regime for the journalists from the two countries.

Significantly, the two governments took a conscious decision to let the journalists of each side to see and study the prevailing situation on the other side, giving up the restrictive approach of the past. This development coincided with the meeting of Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and President Gen Pervez Musharraf in New York.

In a statement, simultaneously issued from Islamabad and New Delhi, Safma's national chapters of India and Pakistan have thanked the two governments for having allowed this exchange.

The president and general secretary of Safma-Pakistan M. Ziauddin and Mustansar Javed, respectively have thanked Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh for allowing visas to the Pakistani journalists.

Similarly, K.K. Katyal and Vinod Kumar Sharma, the president and general secretary of Safma-India, have appreciated the clearance given by the Pakistani authorities to the return visit of journalists from India.

Welcoming the joint statement issued on September 24 after the meeting between Dr Manmohan Singh and Gen Musharraf, the secretary general of Safma, Imtiaz Alam, has hoped that this exchange of the two groups of journalists across Kashmir will help media understand the Kashmir issue better.

He expressed his pleasure over the fact that the two governments had agreed to explore "possible options" while adhering to the spirit of the January 6 Joint Statement and implementing all confidence- building measures.

Appreciating the dynamic role played by Safma, India and Pakistan, the secretary general expressed optimism that the room created for the journalists' exchange across Kashmir would encourage the authorities to lift all barriers to free movement of journalists across all parts of the subcontinent.