THE NEED OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN SOUTH ASIA: A CASE STUDY OF KASHMIR DISPUTE BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN

Abstract

For the last sixty years or so, India-Pakistan relations have marked by both hope and despair. Although several efforts of conflict resolution have been made between the two neighboring countries, the south Asian region is still far away from witnessing long-lasting peace. The long-standing dispute on Kashmir has actually impeded the process of conflict resolution between the two countries. This paper examines the need of conflict resolution between India and Pakistan,
particularly on the issue of Kashmir, by looking at the genesis of the dispute, various efforts to resolve the dispute, the nature of the Kashmir dispute and devising a new approach for its resolution. It is argued that over a period of time the nature of the Kashmir dispute has been changed. It is neither a territorial nor a religious dispute between India and Pakistan, but a dispute of the denial of the right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir. After the 9/11 incident, the dynamics of domestic, regional and international politics have changed. Therefore, it is high time that both India and Pakistan adopt a forward looking approach to bridge the trust-deficit and reach a consensus on the resolution of the Kashmir dispute.