LAHORE: The session titled “Conflict resolution: hostilities keeping South Asia back” at the 6th Asma Jahangir conference at Faletti’s Hotel largely focussed on relations between Pakistan and India, overshadowing Islamabad or New Delhi’s ties with other states -- Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives or Afghanistan.

The panelists included ex-federal minister for defence and foreign affairs Engr. Khurram Dastgir-Khan, former high commissioner of Pakistan to India Shahid Malik and founding editor of ‘Himal Southasian’ Kanak Mani Dixit with research and communications lead for Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Maheen Pracha moderating the talk.

Mr Dastgir started off the discussion by paying tribute to Asma Jahangir and talked about the Modi doctrine, saying that the New Delhi took the hostility to the upper Indus Basin and ‘weaponised’ water.

He warned of a nuclear war over water, saying “We are on the edge of a precipice.” He also spoke about India’s water dispute with Bangladesh in the past.

He said even after the Mumbai attacks in 2008, communications between the two countries had not ceased as Congress was at the helm of affairs at that time. He said now the interaction is reduced to the level of DGMO [director general military operations]

Taking the floor, former ambassador Shahid Malik reminisced about the two visits the late Asma Jahangir paid to India along with a lawyers delegation in 2008 and 2012 during his stint as high commissioner. He suggested that both countries should take a slew of ‘baby steps’ like visits of civil society members.

He said both countries could not again touch the volume of trade which they had before 1965.

Kanak Mani Dixit too started off by lauding Asma Jahangir, saying she was a proponent of dialogue to resolve issues. “Being a Nepali, I feel ‘nuclear anxiety’ so far as the situation in the region is concerned.” He said the Nepalese blockades by India during 2015 left a deep impact on the psyche of the [Nepali] nation.

About the ‘way forward’, Mr Dastgir said as Saarc [South Asian Association for regional Cooperation] is ‘dead’, a new regional organisation should be created for the two billion population, with Pakistan leading it.

Shahid Malik said there is always light at the end of the tunnel to which Khurram Dastgir quipped, “I’m not seeing even the tunnel.”

Mr Dixit [politely] disagreed to Dastgir’s proposal, suggesting that interlocutors from Pakistan and India should meet ‘in secret’ in the best interest of the region.

He concluded the discussion by saying that some experts from Kathmandu, Colombo and Dhaka should meet somewhere and come up with a [reconciliation] plan.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2026