Pugwash Conference on Kashmir in Kochi postponed

Srinagar, Apr 20 (UNI) The two-day Pugwash Conference, scheduled to be held at Kochi in Kerala from Sunday, has been postponed in view of the third round-table conclave on Jammu and Kashmir being chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on April 24.

No new dates have been fixed for the conference.

Sources said the Pugwash Conference on World Affairs, an American think tank, has been postponed indefinitely as several mainstream political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir were scheduled to attend the meet at Kochi.

As the Pugwash Conference was scheduled to end on April 23, it would have been difficult for the participants to make it to the third round-table meet, they added.

Peoples Democratic Front (PDF) Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen and CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami were among those invited to the Conference, also to be attended by several separatist leaders, including moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

However, unconfirmed reports suggested that the Conference was postponed as several leaders from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) were not issued visas to travel to India.

The Pugwash conferences, earlier held in Islamabad and Kathmandu, discussed efforts and measures to build institutions for peace in Jammu and Kashmir and improving cooperation and communication across the Line of Control (LoC).

UNI