The Heat: India-Pakistan tensions

It's a prolonged dispute - for seven decades, India and Pakistan have been fighting over the mountainous region of Kashmir.New Delhi claims Islamabad is supporting separatist movements and turning a blind eye to extremist groups targeting Indian security forces.

The latest flare-up began when a suicide attack killed more than 40 Indian soldiers - bringing the two countries closer to armed conflict. Sean Callebs brings a panel of guests to discuss the tensions between the two neighbors.

"Their circumstances are absolutely the worst," saysKasmiri author Nitasha Kaul who is based in London. The key issue in Kashmir, she indicates, is the shutdown of constitutional amendments and schools. "After every such incident, people of Kashmir are just more and more pushed against the wall,"she says.

Regarding the militarization on the border, "Pakistan needs to have a basic introspective look and a change in the direction in terms of militant groups that use its soil to operate its outside borders,"says Shuja Nawaz, a distinguished fellow at the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council.

"The international community cannot afford to continue getting it wrong. It must recognize that the real region instability in South Asia is the unresolved dispute of Kashmir," said the Pakistani Ambassador to the U.S., "it is time to address the oldest dispute on the UN Security Council's agent."

Sadanand Dhume, whois a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, responds to the Ambassador's statement and illustrates what has put the country into danger. In his opinion,India under Modi, for various reasons, feels that the old Indian approach, which showed a measure of restraint before, has not worked.Instead, cracking down on the terrorists groups first would become a practical solution for real more.

However, Nitasha believes that both countries just had this existential obsession. She thinks that if both countries just keep arguing without talking to Kashmir, the problem will never be resolved.

YetSadanand Dhumedisagrees, believing that the reality of the two nuclear-armed countries hinders such hope and can be hardly resolved. Responding to him,Nitasha stresses that a strategy is the key, yet Modi has failed to do so in the past few days in her opinion, only aiming at electoral popularity.

Shuja Nawaz points out that much of the recent research indicates that it's not countries but regional grouping of countries that create economic opportunities across the globe, and the U.S., has unfortunately not stepped up. In this case, as Indian aircraft actually Pakistani airspace and not into Pakistani administered Kashmir alone, he thinks that is very dangerous.

James Schwemlein, a nonresident scholar in the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, points out that India thinks that they can solve this problem by themselves, that the larger and stronger nation is capable of dealing with issues with a weaker neighbor.

Rather than choosing one country for an endgame, Shuja indicates that it should be endgames for both countries, which is the improvement of the lives of their people. Although India has been avoiding international intervention, it has always been the first one to seek international courts to seek an appeal. He thinks that it suits both countries to bring in international interlocutors and maybe that would be the way forward.

At the end, Nitasha stresses again thatKashmir might not want Pakistannor India. There is a drive for autonomy.She is concerned more thatModi's strong and toxic political brand is going to createevenmore problems.

The Heat with Anand Naidoo is a 30-minute political talk show on CGTN. It airs weekdays at 7:00 a.m. BJT and 6:00 p.m. Eastern in the United States.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com)