Muzzaffarabd, June 22: The Honourable Speaker, Legislative Assembly of the Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Shah Gulam Qadir inaugurated the PILDAT Skills-building workshop on Conflict Transformation: Dynamics, Skills and Strategies for the members and secretariat staff of the Legislative Assembly of the AJ&K today in the building of Legislative Assembly, Muzaffarabad, AJ&K while Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly AJK, Ms. Mehrunisa also participated in the workshop.

Mr. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, Executive Director, PILDAT, in his introductory remarks, welcomed all participants and described the purpose and importance of the topic. Over 20 Members of the Legislative Assembly of the AJ&K including Mohammad Yaqoob Khan, Former Prime Minister Azad Jammu & Kashmir also took part in the workshop. Shah Gulam Qadir also distributed Certificates of Participation to the participants after completion of the workshop.

The workshop was conducted by Dr. Syed Rifaat Hussain, a Conflict Resolution Expert/Workshop Resource Person. Participants discussed various aspects of Kashmir Conflict in a discussion with Dr. Rifaat Hussain. A background paper on Conflict Transformation: Dynamics, Skills and Strategies in English and Urdu languages was especially prepared by PILDAT for the participants of the Skills-building Workshops, in addition to workshop materials and exercises developed by the resource person.

PILDAT has completed a round of Skills-Building Workshops on Conflict Management: The Negotiation Strategies and Conflict Management: the Mediation Process with the Parliament of Pakistan, Provincial Assemblies of Punjab, Sindh and Legislative Assemblies of Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. This workshop was organised as a second round of same series of the Skills-Building Workshops under the theme of Conflict Transformation.

The basic objective of the PILDAT programme is to enhance the conflict resolution capabilities of elected legislators so that they are better equipped to play their role as mediators in various conflicts in the society and in their respective legislatures. It is envisaged that by building the conflict-resolution capabilities of elected legislators at all levels, our efforts should contribute positively towards Pakistani legislators� long-term ability to respond and diffuse conflicts at all levels.

The workshop was organised as part of the PILDAT project of Orientation of Members of National Assembly and Provincial Assemblies on Conflict Resolution that is supported by the British High Commission, Islamabad through UK Government�s Conflict Pool.