Peace Conference by KSO

Weekly Bang-e-Sahar Karachi

Satuarday, August 2-----August 2008

By Our Correspondent

GILGIT:

Speaker Northern Areas Legislative Assembly Mohammad Miskeen has said due to wrong policies of the bureaucracy at the ministry of Kashmir affairs and Northern Areas, nationalist forces in Gilgit-Baltistan are gaining popularity in the region.He said if the officials of the KANA division did not change their policies, it may become possible one day that you (the nationalists) and we would be united in a single platform and launch a struggle for the rights of the region.He expressed these views while speaking as chief guest at a peace conference organised by the Karakoram Students Organisation at Gilgit Press Club.He said before launching a struggle to gain constitutional rights we should have unity in our ranks. He said in the year 2005 violence hit this six-km area and soon engulfed the whole region. Whenever violence spreads in the region it never remains confined to a single locality but spread to the whole region and affects the masses.He said before 2005, there were two forces by the names of Anjuman-i-Imamia and Tanzeem-i-Ahle Sunnat and if even a cracker was detonated we would go to our camps. He said after the 2005 incidents we gathered intellectuals, lawyers, politicians and after consulting religious organisations formed a Jirga and reached an agreement in the lights of talks held between the two parties during the past 20 years. Later, we spread the messages of love, brotherhood, peace and education to the masses. These efforts yielded positive results, he added.He said it was a result of public maturity that after the recent attemt to the life of member legislative assembly Himayatullah, the people remained calm and did not took the law into their own hands and the elders of both the groups condemned the incident. Speaking on the occasion, member legislative assembly Dr Muzaffar said the people of Gilgit-Baltistan understand what is good and what is bad for them. He said the people are now aware of the conspiracies which were hatched to divide them in the past. He said for the first time President Musharraf has acknowledged that Gilgit-Baltistan is a disputed area. Praising the role of the grand peace Jirga, he said the prevailing peace in the region was a result of the peace Jirga.Adv. Wazir Mohammad Shafi of BNF said to achieve rights and fight against injustices, the masses should be aware of their rights. He said whenever the people of this region get united for their rights conspiracies are hatched to divide them.Col (retired) Nadir Hassan said to take forward the struggle for political rights we need to safeguard our national identity. He said history showed that there were no sectarian clashes in the region.Karakoram National Movement president Adv. Mohammad Iqbal said China was becoming a super power and to reach its borders and contain its strength, a number of propaganda campaigns had been launched.