Resolving the Kashmir Conflict: Pakistan, India, Kashmiris and Religious Militants

This article introduces a conflict resolution framework to address the Kashmir conflict. Firstly, Kashmir is mapped out as a multi-dimensional dispute between various parties: besides the interstate dispute between India and Pakistan, Kashmir is also an armed conflict both between India and the Kashmiris over the right of self-determination and between India and the religious militants who are waging a jihad to create a theocratic state. Secondly, in order to understand the complexity of Kashmir, I introduce an original framework based upon six levels of sovereignty that helps us in underscoring the implications of the bargaining process between India, Pakistan and Kashmir. Based on this, I propose a roadmap for peace, which comprises three successive steps: confidence-building measures, restoration of the asymmetric original status of Jammu and Kashmir and, finally, shared sovereignty (partial or total condominium) between India and Pakistan.