ISLAMABAD: Expressing solidarity with the Kashmir cause, eminent speakers underlined the need to move “beyond conflict management towards genuine conflict resolution” to ensure regional stability and long-term peace in South Asia.
Warning that India’s post-2019 policies in Occupied Kashmir have intensified human rights abuses, undermined international law, and heightened regional instability, they argued that the dispute has entered into a more dangerous phase that can no longer be managed as status quo.
The Centre for International Strategic Studies (CISS) hosted a hybrid seminar titled “Revisiting the Kashmir Issue held here on Thursday. Chairman of the Kashmir Institute of International Relations, Altaf Hussain Wani, recalled that the revocation of the region’s special status by occupying India reflected ideological motives. “The abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A was the culmination of a long-standing BJP–RSS ideological agenda, related to electoral considerations,” Wani said, adding that Pakistan would continue to extend “unwavering political, diplomatic, and moral support” to the Kashmiri people.
Participants highlighted the sharp deterioration in human rights conditions in Occupied Kashmir since 2019 and linked the constitutional changes to long-term demographic and legal consequences. Referring to “extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, prolonged detentions, recurring internet shutdowns, and the systematic intimidation of journalists and human rights defenders,” the CISS Executive Director, Ambassador Ali Sarwar Naqvi, said that the situation had markedly deteriorated.
Dr. Mujeeb Afzal of Quaid-e-Azam University said India’s legal position relied on selective interpretations of historical documents and eroded Kashmir’s autonomy through constitutional means. “Article 370’s promised autonomy was systematically hollowed,” Afzal said, warning that Hindu nationalist ideology and new domicile laws “risk demographic engineering in Kashmir,” with “serious implications for international law and regional stability.”
Dr. Nazir Hussain, former dean of Social Sciences at Quaid-e-Azam University, described Kashmir as an unresolved international dispute rooted in Partition and governed by international legal obligations. He stressed that Pakistan’s position is “firmly grounded in UN Security Council resolutions and international law.” He also cited India’s obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law, including the ICCPR and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The strategic consequences of the conflict were also underscored. The CISS Azad Jammu and Kashmir Executive Director, Dr. Asma Shakir Khawaja, characterised Kashmir as a “nuclear flashpoint shaped by the policies of India,” cautioning that New Delhi’s post-2019 approach has “deepened generational trauma, narrowed prospects for peace, and heightened the risks of escalation.”
Director of Research at CISS Islamabad, Dr. Bilal Zubair, said that, “Resolving the Kashmir issue requires a multidimensional approach grounded in international law, respect for human rights, and the centrality of the Kashmiri people’s aspirations.”
