WASHINGTON, Sept 27: The Third International Kashmir Peace Conference has welcomed the joint statement issued by Pakistan and India in New York on Sept 24 at the conclusion of an hour-long meeting between President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, reports the Kashmir Media Service.

The conference was organized by Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai, director of the Kashmir Centre in Washington, on Sept 24-25. The conference expressed satisfaction over the leaders' decision to sincerely explore all possible options for a peaceful negotiated settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir issue.

It expressed the hope that the two leaders and their governments recognized that there could be no "peaceful negotiated settlement" without the full and active participation of the Kashmiris living on both sides of the Line of Control as well as of those belonging to the Kashmiri diaspora.

The conference also called for intensified intra-Kashmiri dialogue so that a set of acceptable options for the settlement of the Kashmir dispute can emerge. It urged the governments of India and Pakistan to create necessary conditions and provide facilities for this purpose.

Among other issues, the meeting also discussed the topic of 'terrorism.' Barrister Majid Tramboo, executive director of the Kashmir Centre's EU chapter, said that there was a lack of a commonly accepted definition of 'terrorism' and 'terrorist acts.'

He said that the matter was further complicated by the issue of whether a definition of terrorism should focus only on acts carried out by non-state actors or whether one should incorporate the concept of state or state-sponsored terrorism.

Nevertheless, he said, "acts viewed as terrorist acts have been prohibited ever since the promulgation of earlier humanitarian law instruments, giving at least some baseline for determining what acts can be deemed terrorism."

Barrister Tramboo said: "Given the importance of the legal qualification of armed conflict and of related violence for the content of the applicable law, evaluation is necessary to determine, on a case-by case basis, whether a particular situation can be considered terrorism or must be viewed as armed conflict."

Relating it to the right to self-determination, Barrister Tramboo said: "A necessary component of the right to self-determination is the right to its realization and the right to take steps to that end."

However, "the precise scope of this right, as a right to use armed force and engage in wars of national liberation, has been a major point of contention." In case of the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Barrister Tramboo explained that the issue "became a controversy only after India realized that she could not win the peoples' vote in Kashmir".

Barrister Tramboo said that the Kashmiris' struggle for freedom was just and legitimate under international and humanitarian law. Ali Raza Syed, president of the centre's advisory council in Brussels, addressed the issue of developing the means by which to provide a brighter future for the Kashmiris. In his intervention, Syed stated that maintaining the status quo was not conducive to a peaceful settlement of the Kashmiri conflict.

"Clearly, tripartite negotiations with international mediation are the most effective way toward achieving a peaceful resolution to the Kashmir dispute. "The International Community, including the United States, the United Nations, and the European Union have the means by which to encourage India and Pakistan to come to the negotiating table with the genuine representatives of Kashmir to address the Kashmir dispute.

"By initiating and implementing peace initiatives, the International Community will not only stop the suffering and killing in Kashmir, but will also have a positive effect on the international security of the region by relieving national tensions, eradicating regional fighting, and effectively eliminating the risk of nuclear war between India and Pakistan. Therefore, it is in the interest of everyone to settle the Kashmir conflict". -APP