Islamabad, September 29: Politico-Legal Conflict between Pakistan and- Azad Jammu & Kashmir can be resolved through negotiations and bringing the issues on a dialogue table, agreed Legislators from the AJ&K Legislative Assembly (MLAs). MLAs believed they, along with civil society and representatives of the Federation, can play an important role in facilitating the discourse between the Federation and AJK. Members from the Legislative Assembly of Azad Jammu &Kashmir joined a simulation workshop on �How to Resolve Real Conflicts� on the topic of Politico-Legal Conflict between Pakistan and- Azad Jammu & Kashmir.

To assist the members of the Legislative Assembly of Azad Jammu & Kashmir in enhancing the conflict resolution and negotiation strategies, a mock simulation exercise was conducted by a seasoned instructor, Mohammed Feyyaz, who has extensive experience of leading similar workshops in renowned national institutions, based on a live issue of Pak-AJK politico-legal conflict.

The workshop was attended by Sardar Ghulam Sadiq, Speaker AJ&K Legislative Assembly, Ms. Shaheen Kasuar Dar, Deputy Speaker, Legislative Assembly, Ministers and members of AJ&K legislative Assembly. Twelve (12) members of the AJ&K Legislative Assembly while four (4) members from the Secretariat staff including Secretary and the Deputy Secretary of AJ&K Legislative Assembly also took part in the simulation exercise.

Groups were briefed on how to understand the contours of a conflict and prepare negotiation points in each group. Actively assisted by the Conductor on the strategies of negotiations, they faced each other on the negotiation table. Skillfully managed, the talks achieved meaningful result and the members agreed in a media debrief that discourse and negotiations on traditional frictional relationship between the Federation and the State of AJ &K talks must continue.

The workshop is the 3rd of the series of exercises being organised by PILDAT on How to Resolve Real Conflicts to enhance conflict understanding, resolution and negotiation strategies among elected legislators and office bearers of major political parties through which participants will be trained through an opportunity to resolve a real issue, in a real time setting, through simulated role playing so as to generate meaningful solutions to the issue.