This book examines the complex political structures of Pakistan and India that determine both the Kashmir conflict and the geostrategic environment underpinning it.

1. Introduction Part 1: A brief history of the Kashmir conflict and Indo-Pakistani relations 2. Introduction: tracing the conflict genesis and dynamics in a tailored manner 3. Kashmir before and after partition 4. India-Pakistan relations in the formative decades 5. Fateful transformations of the 1970s and 1980s 6. The turbulent 1990s: insurgency and the bomb 7. Kashmir imbroglio and Indo-Pakistani relations in the 21st century Part 2: The role of Jammu and Kashmir in Pakistan's domestic and international policies 8. Conceptualising the centrality of Kashmir in Pakistan's narrative 9. Nation building and Kashmir 10. Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan in Pakistan's policy 11. Kashmir dispute in the international policy of Pakistan 12. Reframing Pakistan's domestic and international objectives Part 3: The Role of Jammu and Kashmir in India's internal and international policies 13. India's values focussed on Jammu and Kashmir 14. Creations within creations and their fears 15. The spectre and structure of conflict 16. Transforming identities and ideologies 17. Military tag wagging the State 18. The harder the pressure the looser the bond 19. Epilogue