The Kashmir dispute remains the central fault line of South Asian security, with periodic crises underscoring its unresolved political, humanitarian, and strategic dimensions. The May 2025 Pakistan-India hostilities once again demonstrated that Kashmir is not a frozen conflict, but a deeply destabilizing issue with direct consequences for regional peace, strategic stability, and human security. Developments since India’s unilateral actions of August 2019, coupled with intensified militarisation and securitisation, have further altered the ground realities in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
The Zoom webinar on ‘Kashmir Dispute in the Aftermath of the 2025 Conflict,’ held by the Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies (CASS) on 4 February 2025, brought together senior practitioners, researchers, and scholars to examine the post-conflict landscape. Moderated by Air Marshal Zahid Mehmood (Retd), Senior Director at CASS, the session explored the human impact of the May 2025 hostilities, evolving Indian strategies in Kashmir, public sentiment within IIOJK, and potential diplomatic and political pathways for Pakistan in the aftermath of the conflict.
The discussion featured research presentations by CASS researchers and a keynote address by Dr Asma Shakir Khawaja, Founding Executive Director of the Centre for International Strategic Studies (CISS), Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Collectively, the conversation highlighted how sustained militarisation, political marginalisation, and governance measures in Kashmir are deepening grievances, while the absence of meaningful conflict resolution mechanisms continues to pose serious risks for South Asian stability. For Pakistan, the deliberations underscored the need to align principled advocacy for Kashmiri self-determination with adaptive diplomatic engagement, sustained international outreach, and greater emphasis on the lived realities of the Kashmiri people.
