BEYOND BOUNDARIES – PHASE II
The Phase II of the CRSS Pakistan-Afghanistan track 1.5 & II project Beyond Boundaries builds on the successful outcome of its prequel “Beyond Boundaries” which did a good job of initial ice-breaking, scene setting and laid foundation for more result-oriented conversations and structured dialogue to generate more actionable policy recommendations around identified issues such as border management, security, easement of formal trade, education, health, refugees, and media-intellectual exchanges.
The Beyond Boundaries phase II formulated a Pak- Afghan Joint Committee (PAJC) as a bilateral Track II mechanism to try and help overcome the deep rooted acrimony and suspicion through a focused and meaningful series of dialogue. The PAJC comprises five to seven members each from Pakistan and Afghanistan including security experts, parliamentarians, civil society, and business/media representatives. The CRSS in partnership with its counterpart in Kabul, Women & Peace Studies Organization (WPSO), have reached out to high level experts and have constituted the Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Committee. CRSS and WPSO will work closely with and seek guidance of the respective diplomatic missions in Kabul and Islamabad (Pakistani and Afghan) during the project period.
The PAJC will aim to develop understanding on the identified bilateral issues mentioned above to help detox narratives, improve public perceptions, and mitigate mutual allegations and suspicions. The core group members will keep alternating for the captive interactions, strategic meetings on the sidelines, public seminars at universities and media appearances during the total of six workshops/ visits of joint committee through the project life cycle August, 2016 to March, 2017; one each at Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore in Pakistan and Kabul, Mazaar-i-Sharif and Herat in Afghanistan.
As strategic oversight, the PAJC groups will keep lobbying with their respective governments on the progress of the previous and newly generated recommendations of Beyond Boundaries. The joint committee will act as bridge between two governments, to ensure continuation of bilateral conversation and promote and foster better people-to-people contacts between the two countries.
