The economic and social development of both India and Pakistan and, in fact, the entire South Asiasubcontinent have been substantially held hostage by the half-century Kashmir dispute. The bitterness andsuspicion resulting from the continuing feud have led both countries to devote a comparatively largepercentage of their resources to defense, including conventional, nuclear, and ballistic missile weaponscapability. Although the Kashmir dispute is rooted in the colonial era, little progress toward resolution hasbeen made during five decades of independence. Any solution to the Kashmir issue must necessarily take intoconsideration the complex tangle of ethnic, linguistic, religious, and legal issues that surround the dispute.Above all, any settlement of the Kashmir dispute by India and Pakistan would appear to require a new level ofcommitment, political will, and leadership by the two South Asian adversaries. A major impediment to aresolution has been that many regard the Kashmir issue as inseparable from the self-definition of the twostates. Some have argued that for Pakistan, which since its inception aspired to be the homeland forMuslims in South Asia, the existence of a contiguous Muslim-majority state outside its purview underminesthe full realization of the state. For India, whose selfdefinition is as a secular nation that can accommodatea plurality of different groups, the existence of a Muslim-minority state that can live within its borders isoften considered essential to the nations credo of unity in diversity. The option of a Kashmir independentof both India and Pakistan has generally been outside the realm of consideration for the two South Asianadversary states.