Fifth Annual Conflict Transformation Workshop: Collaborative Explorations

First Annual Conflict Transformation Workshop: Rehumanizing the Other

Second Annual Conflict Transformation Workshop: Transcending Conflict

Third Annual Conflict Transformation Workshop: Dialogic Engagement

Fourth Annual Conflict Transformation Workshop: Envisioning Futures

Fifth Annual Conflict Transformation Workshop: Collaborative Explorations

Sixth Annual WISCOMP Conflict Transformation Workshop:

Coexistence and Trust-building: Transforming Relationships

Symposium: Conflict Resolution: Trends and Prospects

Public Forum: Track II, Citizen’s Diplomacy: Innovative Possibilities for Peace

Roundtable: Building Synergies for Peace

At the fifth workshop held in October 2006, WISCOMP brought together a select group of the Conflict Transformation program alumnae to envisage a future course both for WISCOMP’s India-Pakistan peace initiative and for the larger peace processes in South Asia. The workshop employed the framework of Multi-track Diplomacy to facilitate discussions on the Indo-Pak peace process and cooperative security in South Asia. The goals of the workshop were to:

• Review and consolidate cumulative lessons learnt from the earlier workshops, and build on a shared understanding of the sources and dynamics of conflicts particularly in the context of India-Pakistan relations.

• Foreground participants’ personal experiences in the field of peacebuilding  their concerns and aspirations.

• Provide a space for the sharing of knowledge and experience in order to  create a community of peacebuilders who have the ability and willingness to think “out of the box.”

• Envisage, encourage and initiate joint partnerships for research, advocacy and grassroots peacebuilding.

• Further the understanding of multi-track processes and how the working of different tracks can be synergized for optimum results in peacebuilding.

• Transcend nationalist understandings of identity to further a “South Asian” identity while recognizing the influence of inter-state and intra-state dynamics on peace in the region.

• Identify challenges to forging trust and cooperation between countries in South Asia, and engage with ways to overcome them.

• Facilitate critical reflection on contemporary understandings of diplomacy, mediation and dialogue.

The workshop program included discussions on the themes of regional security, women’s initiatives for peace, building synergies between track one and two, and “out of box” possibilities. Through multiple formats – roundtables, panel discussions, films, simulations, workshops, visual presentations and group work – the participants engaged with varied issues and perspectives. A significant highlight of the workshop was a face-to-face with Mr. Shiv Shankar Menon, India’s Foreign Secretary. The participants also interacted with Mr. Shyam Saran, Prime Minister’s Special Envoy – Indo-US Nuclear Deal; Mr. Javed Jabbar, Former Federal Minister, Pakistan; Prof. Narayani Gupta of Jamia Millia Islamia; Prof. Sanjay Chaturvedi, Center for the Study of Geopolitics, Panjab University; Prof. S.D. Muni, faculty member, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Dr. C. Rajamohan, Strategic Affairs Expert, amongst others.

In the course of the workshop, the participants offered recommendations for progressive change for peace in school curriculum and pedagogy in India and Pakistan, and put forth a timeline for resolution of the Kashmir conflict. 

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