The Jammu and Kashmir dispute, which occurred at the time of partition in 1947, relates to the accession of this princely state with Pakistan or India. As part of the partition formula 543 princely states in India were required to accede to either Pakistan or India based on their contiguity and will of the people. Based on the wrong accession got under duress by India from Raja Hari Singh, the then ruler of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, against the will of the Muslim majority of the state, who had declared to join Pakistan, India had sent its forces in the state and occupied the major part of it, till the advance of the Indian forces was checked by the Pakistan military. Then India had referred the dispute to the United Nations and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) passed the resolution asking for the ceasefire and stating that the dispute will be resolved by ascertaining the will of the people of the state through a plebiscite to be held under UNSC supervision, whether the people wanted the state to join Pakistan or India. At the time of obtaining the accession, in a broadcast to the Indian nation on November 2, 1947, independent India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, said, “Let me make it clear that it has been our policy all along that where there is a dispute about the accession of a State to either Dominion, the decision must be made by the people of the State. It was in accordance with this policy that we added a proviso to the Instrument of Accession of Kashmir.” – (White Paper on Jammu and Kashmir, p. 45) . Despite above mentioned pledges, just after a few years,Mr. Nehru went back on his words, disregarded the UNSC resolutions for holding a plebiscite, and since then India has been struggling to make Jammu and Kashmir state as India’s integral part, by advancing flimsy and untenable arguments. After Nehr’s U turn on his pledges to finally decide about the accession of Jammu and Kashmir through a plebiscite, there have been three wars between India and Pakistan on this dispute. The dispute is still there and it is still on the agenda of the UNSC. The ongoing freedom struggle in Kashmir, the intensity being witnessed in the violence of the Naxalite movement in India and the impending Sikhs’ referendum for separation of Punjab from India scheduled in 2020, would harm India’s integrity if it does not resolve its internal issues While Pakistan has been offering various options to India to resolve the issue, such as, by holding a plebiscite under UNSC supervision, through foreign mediation or by holding a sustained bilateral dialogue, India has rejected all the options. Although bilateral talks were held few times, but India never discussed Jammu and Kashmir dispute. India has also deployed more than 700,000 security forces in the Jammu and Kashmir since 1989 to crush Kashmiris’ peaceful freedom struggle and in the process is committing rampant atrocities and human rights violations on the Kashmiris. Just for carrying on with the hostilities with Pakistan over Jammu and Kashmir, India is trying to make the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) ineffective by refusing to attend its summits, whenever scheduled to be held in Pakistan. This negative role of India has compromised the SAARC’s objective of advancing the socioeconomic development of South Asia and realizing the ultimate goal of regional economic integration. The ongoing freedom struggle in Kashmir, the intensity being witnessed in the violence of the Naxalite movement in India and the impending Sikhs’ referendum for separation of Punjab from India scheduled in 2020, would harm India’s integrity if it does not resolve its internal issues, and disputes with Pakistan and other South Asian states through dialogue and in a just manner. Then, India should focus on its economic development based on South Asian economic integration and South Asia’s integration with the Central Asian states (CARs), by joining the CPEC. This is the only viable strategy, which will enable India to fulfill India’s dream of becoming a major power, otherwise while continuing with Pakistan enmity and displaying Chauvianism against it, India can get entangled in a war with Pakistan involving nuclear weapons that can bring disaster to both the countries.. Therefore, to become a major power, India will have to make sustainable peace with nuclear Pakistan, in the same way as both the nuclear powers, France(bigger country) and the UK (smaller country), are living like friends, and focusing on their socioeconomic advancement. Hence, if India resolves the Jammu and Kashmir dispute with Pakistan and its issues with other SAARC members, joins the CPEC and promotes intra-regional trade and trade with the CARs, following economic advantages can accrue to the region. Mutual trade and investment relations in South Asia, including trade in energy will flourish. India and other South Asian countries’ investment and trade with extra regional countries, including CARs, through CPEC will increase many fold. Tourism within South Asia and beyond will flourish and economic growth of all countries will increase thus enhancing the employment and incomes, that will help in ending the poverty and bringing the prosperity in the region. The writer is an ex-Army Colonel, a former Research Fellow of Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), Islamabad and Senior Research Fellow, Strategic Vision Institute, Islamabad