It is indeed a misfortune that peace, security and economic prosperity of the South Asian region remain hostage to innate Indian desire for hegemony, its continued occupation of IIOJ&K in contravention of the UNSC resolutions and her hostile posture towards Pakistan, more so since the advent of Modi regime in India. Indian designs to go nuclear and establish her hegemony in the region became evident even before partition of the sub-continent was announced. As early as June 26, 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru, soon to be India’s first prime minister had announced, “As long as the world is constituted as it is, every country will have to devise and use the latest devices for its protection. I have no doubt India will develop her scientific researches and I hope Indian scientists will use the atomic force for constructive purposes. But if India is threatened, she will inevitably try to defend herself by all means at her disposal.” In pursuance, India tested its first nuclear device in 1974. The test used plutonium produced in the Canadian-supplied CIRUS reactor. This raised concerns about nuclear technology supplied for peaceful purposes being diverted to weapons programme. It is pertinent to mention that the Indian nuclear test stimulated the early work of NSG. Pakistan, which had fought three wars with India over Kashmir dispute and considered India as a threat to her security, felt alarmed by Indian nuclear test and had no choice but to initiate its own nuclear programme to ward off the Indian threat notwithstanding the fact that it had to face enormous difficulties and sanctions because it rightly thought that security of the country deserved preference over everything else. By the time India exploded nuclear devices in 1998, Pakistan was also in a position to demonstrate its nuclear prowess. The nuclear deterrent developed by Pakistan has not only scuttled Indian designs of hegemony in the region but has also minimized the chances of a full-fledged war between the two nuclear powers unless madness choreographed the future course leading to mutual destruction. Pakistan has also developed a minimum deterrent against the Indian doctrine of “cold start.” However, India has not given up her attempts to harm and denigrate Pakistan. It is now engaged in a hybrid war against Pakistan. Her efforts to malign Pakistan and portray it as an epicenter of terrorism through fake news network discovered by EU Disinfo Lab, its projection of freedom struggle in IIOJ&K as terrorism supported by Pakistan, stage-managing incidents like Pulwama to win elections, moves to sabotage CPEC and efforts to have Pakistan pushed into the black list of FATF, are ranting testimonies in this regard. The threat syndrome has assumed greater intensity under the BJP regime headed by Modi and inspired by RSS ideology of Hindutva, which is a racist philosophy, specifically against Muslims The threat syndrome has assumed greater intensity under the BJP regime headed by Modi and inspired by RSS ideology of Hindutva, which is a racist philosophy, specifically against Muslims. Communal policies and promulgation of anti-Muslim laws within India and move by the Modi regime to bifurcate IIOJ&K into two territories and its annexation to the Indian union followed by enactment of new domicile law to change demographic realities of the state and the continuation of killing-spree in the valley, undoubtedly establish an anti-Muslim stance of the BJP regime. No wonder, a former prime minister of India was forced to say that Modi regime has converted India into a majoritarian state. Indian leaders are also persisting with threats of surgical strikes within Pakistan to counter the alleged infiltration of terrorists in IIOJ&K. Indian Home Minister Amit Sharma, addressing a function at a university in Goa on October 14, warned Pakistan of more surgical strikes by India if there were transgression at the Indian borders. Speaking in the same vein,Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that Pakistan had been shown that action against terrorism would be taken not only on this side of the border but also on their side if needed. He also took a dig at the critics who held the view that repealing Article 370 of the Indian constitution would lead to frightful consequences by saying, “People used to say if Article 370 is abolished the entire Kashmir will burn. All in all, Jammu and Kashmir is peaceful except for a few incidents and Pakistan has not been able to gather any support on Kashmir.” What the Indian government has done in IIOJ&K constitutes defiance of the UNSC resolutions, breach of international law and the 4th Geneva Convention. Pakistan has been warning the international community about the new threat to peace and security in the region and the likely repercussion of the implementation of policies inspired by the RSS ideology, which is very much like Nazism. But regrettably, no credible action has been taken either by the UN or the powers that can use their influence to stop India in her tracks and facilitate resolution of the Kashmir dispute, notwithstanding the fact that the UN has reiterated its stance on resolving the Kashmir dispute as per UNSC resolutions. The international community has refused to buy Indian narrative that its actions in IIOJ&K were her internal affair. The unfortunate reality is that the strategic partners of India like the US see the whole affair through the prism of their strategic and commercial interests. They are not concerned about the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in IIOJ&K and the likelihood of the two nuclear powers confronting each other militarily. Kashmir is admittedly a nuclear flash point. As far as the threats regarding surgical strikes by the Indian leaders are concerned, Pakistan is fully capable of responding to them befittingly as was demonstrated when India sent its planes to bomb imagined terrorist camps at Balakot in February 2019. But it surely and rightly does not want any escalation in the situation. That is why it has made several peace overtures towards India without any reciprocity. Now Pakistan has taken a right stand by refusing to have any dialogue with India unless it revoked its actions of August 5, 2019, in IIOJ&K. The reality is that India is facing a stiff resistance in IIO&JK in spite of unrelenting use of military might by its security forces. Its attempts to feign normalcy in the state are a cruel joke. The international community and UN need to intervene before it is too late. The Indian leaders must also understand that they cannot subdue the freedom struggle in IIOJ&K with military might. By holding onto IIOJ&K using military force and adoption of hostile stance towards Pakistan, they are not only jeopardizing peace and security in the region but are also laying the foundation for undermining their own long-term strategic and economic interests. They need course correction in their own interest. The writer is a retired diplomat, and a visiting professor at Riphah International University, Islamabad.