__________________________________________________________________________________________ 1 Asian Journal of Politicology and Allied Studies (AJPAS) https://ideapublishers.org/index.php/ajpas Vol. 2, No. 1, 2024, pp. 01-10 https://doi.org/10.47264/idea.ajpas/2.1.1 Research Article Indo-Pak conflict in South Asia: dynamics of Kashmir issue and the way forward for peace Syed Jazib Shamim* 1 | Misbah Mohammad Nasim 2 | Tahir Ali 3 1. Department of History, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan. 2. Department of Gulf Studies, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar. 3. Department of Political Science, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, Pakistan. *Corresponding Author Email: syedjazib93@gmail.com Article History Received: 10-Sep-2023 Revised: 06-Oct-2023 Re-revised: 24-Oct-2023 Accepted: 13-Nov-2023 Published: 01-Jan-2024 Abstract: India and Pakistan have experienced various military conflicts since their inception in 1947. The Kashmir issue is one of the most pertinent causes of conflict between both nations as they have gone to war in 1948, 1965 and 1999 on the issue of Kashmir. This matter was also brought to the United Nations Security Council for resolution. However, India has categorically refused to seek any international mediation over this issue by terming it as an internal issue of India. Both countries officially joined the nuclear club in May 1998, which posed a severe threat to the security of the South Asian region as it enabled them to use the nuclear option in future. After acquiring atomic status, both countries came close to war in 2001 when armies were deployed on forward positions on international borders and in 2019 when Pakistan shot down the Indian Air Force fighter jet in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Since 2019, especially after India revoked Article 370, relations between the two countries have been dismal. The paper contemplates the background of this conflict and the resultant wars between India and Pakistan and presents confidence-building measures for the pursuit of peace-making in South Asia. Keywords: Conflict resolution, Peace-making, Arms race, Nuclear powers, Nuclear war, Negotiations, Confidence building measures, International mediation. How to Cite: Shamim, S. J., Nasim, M. M., & Ali, T. (2024). Indo-Pak conflict in South Asia: dynamics of Kashmir issue and the way forward for peace. Asian Journal of Politicology and Allied Studies (AJPAS), 2(1), 01-10. https://doi.org/10.47264/idea.ajpas/2.1.1 Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s), published by IDEA PUBLISHERS (IDEA Publishers Group). License: This is an Open Access manuscript published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).