The Government has made representations to the Indian and Pakistani governments on addressing the Kashmiri problem, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Cowen has revealed.
Mr Cowen said that in meetings they had encouraged Pakistan to carry through its commitment to clamp down on terrorist activities. "Drawing on our national experience, the Government has explained that a state can maintain political aspirations, while denouncing and outlawing those who wish to achieve such goals through terrorism."
Ireland has also encouraged India to accept Pakistan's commitment, he added. Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Department of the Taoiseach said a Department representative had attended the launch of a Kashmir solidarity movement in Ireland last week as an "information gathering exercise".
Mr Cowen said he was glad to note that despite the large number of troops amassed on the two countries' border, both would seem to have moved back from the prospect of war.
India's "occupation" of part of Kashmir, in spite of UN resolutions upholding the right to self-determination, was strongly attacked at the lavish event in Co Dublin, to launch a Kashmir movement in Ireland.
"Basically India illegally occupied Kashmir" in 1947, as British rule was ending, the seminar was told by Dr Ayyub Thakur, a nuclear physicist and president of the World Kashmir Freedom Movement.
Pakistan is "incomplete without Kashmir," he said. He accused India of gross human rights violations, including "gang rape" of women by Indian troops and destruction of properties.
The "seminar" was attended by about 120 people, including representatives from the Taoiseach's office, the Department of Enterprise, some NGOs, members of the diplomatic community (including Iran), and members of the 5,000-strong Pakistan community in Ireland. Speakers recalled the success in Northern Ireland of third-party mediation under Senator George Mitchell but stopped short of suggesting such a role for Ireland. Dr Thakur praised the UN High Commissioner, Mrs Mary Robinson, as "the only one to point to human rights abuses".
A message of support from the former Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds, was read out. The event marking Kashmir Solidarity Day was aimed largely at "policy makers" in Ireland, according to Prof Salim Khan, a Dublin acupuncturist and one of the main organisers.
Speakers emphasised a Pakistani wish to settle the 55-year old dispute between the two nuclear-capable states by negotiation. Afterwards Prof Khan said he even hoped that future events might include the Indian ambassador to Ireland.
Senator Mick Lanigan of Fianna Fáil said Kashmir was "ripe for trouble" surrounded as it was by the nuclear weapons states of China, Russia, India, and Pakistan. He surprised the audience, however, by finishing with: "I wish you well in your struggle for self-determination but I am not optimistic."