A partnership between the Partners Project at CIDCM and the International Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IIPCR) at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Islamabad, Pakistan, has been developing since 2004. Previous collaboration includes participation by Prof. John Davies in IIPCR's inaugural conference and workshop in 2004, opened by President Musharraf, a visit by General Shujaat to CIDCM, and collaboration in developing a partnership project to build capacity for conflict management in various key sectors within Pakistan, as well as for managing tensions with India, particularly over Kashmir. NUST is an elite university catering to both military and civilian students in Pakistan, with excellent support from and access to Pakistani authorities (the President and Prime Minister are its Patron and Chancellor respectively).

 

The work with the Nelson Mandela Center at Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi, the Delhi Policy Group and University of Kashmir is a more recent development growing out of this focus on the Kashmir conflict (see also Partners in Peacebuilding: India Project), allowing us to more effectively support cross-border collaboration on Kashmir through second track diplomacy between India and Pakistan and between leaders on both sides of the line of control in Kashmir.

 

Prof. John Davies of the University of Maryland's Center for International Development and Conflict Management (CIDCM) worked collaboratively with partner institutions in both India and Pakistan, with partial support from CIES-USEFI as a Fulbright Senior Specialist in India (Kashmir), support for local expenses in Pakistan from the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), and with partial support from friends of the Partners in Conflict/Partners in Peacebuilding and Songs for Peace Projects at CIDCM. The first initiative took place in Indian-controlled Kashmir, and the second (also focusing on the Kashmir conflict) at NUST in Pakistan.