Ambassador Khalid Mahmood, Chairman BoG, ISSI,

Ambassador Sohail Mahmood, Director General ISSI,

Members of the BOG, ISSI,

Excellencies,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Assalam o Alaikum and Good Morning.

It is a privilege to inaugurate the Islamabad Conclave 2025 - the flagship Dialogue Forum of the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, now marking its 5th edition. I congratulate the ISSI, its board, its team and the research faculty in organizing this Conclave and welcome the scholars, academics, and practitioners from Pakistan and the region. I look forward to your perspectives on South Asia.

Addressing the ISSI’s Foundation Day event in June 2025, I underlined the need to “re-imagine” regional cooperation in South Asia and beyond, given the region’s multiple challenges and the dysfunctionality of its sole platform for regional cooperation. I am glad that the Institute has organized this year’s Conclave on "Reimagining South Asia: Security, Economy, Climate, Connectivity," which is both pertinent and timely.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The global environment continues to be marked by flux, polarization, and fragmentation. Traditional and non-traditional security challenges coexist. Conflicts in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, as well as regional crises, including Israel’s genocidal military onslaught on Palestinians in Gaza, represent some of the darkest chapters of recent times. Even in our own region, the 92-hour India-Pakistan war had the potential to escalate to far more dangerous levels.

All this is symptomatic of a larger malaise in which states have increasingly resorted to the use of force to settle disputes, with disregard for international law and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. Multilateralism is under assault, and the institutions of global governance are often criticized for the acts of omission and commission of a few states driven by unilateralist impulses.

Climate change remains an existential threat. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and accelerated glacial melting affect water resources, agriculture, and livelihoods worldwide. Emerging technologies, transnational terrorism, and hybrid warfare, including misinformation campaigns, continue to challenge stability.

The rise of extremist ideologies, political populism, democratic backsliding, and Islamophobia are negatively impacting the globe and causing upheavals in unprecedented ways.

Major-power competition is a defining feature of our times. Global geo-strategic and geo-economic landscape is being fundamentally reshaped. Military, technology, trade, tariff and resource rivalries are intensifying.

This extreme turbulence is taking place as the world moves towards a multipolar order, with strategic autonomy among some major powers, the increasing role of ‘Middle Powers,’ and the growing agency of the ‘Global South.’ This process, however, has not yet reached its culmination point.

In this evolving environment, Pakistan has a clear and consistent vision -- one that seeks a just, equitable and inclusive world order. We have opposed bloc politics and zero-sum approaches, and consistently stressed the imperative of cooperation rather than confrontation. Pakistan has steadfastly championed UN-centered multilateralism based on international law, the UN Charter, and reformed multilateral institutions. We have underscored the indispensability of dialogue and diplomacy, of peaceful settlement of disputes, and of international cooperation and solidarity.

As an elected member of the UN Security Council for the term 2025-26, Pakistan is engaged in vanguard efforts to promote international peace and security, driven by this vision. During our Presidency in July, I presided over Council sessions that adopted a landmark resolution after many years through consensus, and a Presidential Statement upholding multilateralism, respect for the Charter, and effective implementation of Council resolutions.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

South Asia, is home to more than 25% of the global population. It faces poverty, inequality, and development challenges, including illiteracy, disease, malnutrition, income disparities, food insecurity, natural disasters, and the impacts of climate change. The region fares terribly low on most human development indices.

South Asia also remains poorly integrated economically, with intra-regional trade hovering around 5%. The region is energy-deficient and heavily dependent on oil and gas imports. Regional connectivity is woefully inadequate. SAARC, the only region-wide platform for regional economic cooperation, has largely remained inactive for over a decade.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we must also consider the pressing challenges of climate and food security in our region,

South Asia’s climate challenges are intensifying. The region is home to over 25,000 glaciers in the Karakoram-Himalaya range, whose accelerated melting threatens water security, agriculture, and livelihoods. Extreme weather events, including floods, droughts, and heatwaves, affect millions and exacerbate food insecurity. Regional cooperation in water management, climate adaptation, and resilient agricultural practices is absolutely essential. Investment in renewable energy, climate-smart farming, and disaster preparedness will be critical for sustainable development and building resilient communities across South Asia.

Distinguished guests, the security landscape adds further complexity,

In the context of hard security, the environment is even more complex. The region comprises three geographically contiguous nuclear powers, with complicated relationships. Major regional states boast of some of the largest armed forces in the world. There is a continuous buildup of conventional and nuclear arms, and regular induction of destabilizing weapons systems. Strategic stability is delicate, among other things, by some dangerously ill-conceived war-fighting notions in the nuclearized environment

Over the past 78 years, sustainable peace has eluded South Asia, as it has faced wars, near-war situations, civil wars, instances of foreign military intervention, forcible and illegal occupation, transnational terrorism, extra-territorial killings and assassinations, ethnic strife, and political instability.

There are escalating disputes over resource-sharing, particularly on river waters, as exemplified by India’s illegal and unilateral announcement on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). The phenomenon of over-securitization continues to grow -- entailing weaponization of trade, water, sports, and cultural exchanges.

There are pervasive inter-state differences and some of the long-standing unresolved political disputes like Jammu and Kashmir continue to threaten peace and stability in the region. There are weak or non-existent regional institutions, especially in the realm of conflict management and dispute resolution. Structured dialogue process between India and Pakistan remains stalled for over 11 years. Other South Asian states have had their share of the ‘see-saw’ relationships with India.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Burden of history, trust deficit, impulses of dominance and hegemony, domestic political and electoral calculations, rise of populism and hyper-nationalism, and an ideological inclination for territorial expansionism add multiple layers of complexity to the regional landscape.

Above all, the region is becoming a locale for major-power contestation. On one hand, the U.S.-led the “Indo-Pacific” construct strategy aimed at China’s containment assigned the role of a ‘net security provider’ to one state in the region;  and On the other hand, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Global Development Initiative (GDI) and Global Governance Initiative were opposed despite their clear focus on economic development and connectivity The friction resulting from this dichotomous situation impacts the regional states’ efforts for peace and development.

In May 2025, the region witnessed yet another India-Pakistan crisis – with the two nuclear-capable countries involved in a conflagration that could have gone into uncontrollable escalation. The U.S. played a crucial role in brokering a timely ceasefire. While the hostilities ceased, an uneasy and fragile peace persists. Pakistan demonstrated both its resolve and capability to thwart aggression and reinforce deterrence. The concept of ‘net security provider’ is buried. Sustainable peace in South Asia, however, requires more than maintaining strategic stability. Above all else, a just and lasting solution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute remains indispensable.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is often said that the end of the Cold War largely bypassed South Asia, leaving the region with few peace dividends.We, South Asians, need to think really hard: Are we doomed to remain mired in confrontation and conflict, while other regions progress and prosper? The answer should be an emphatic “No.”

The cumulative challenges of regional security, economic fragility, and climate crisis are simply too grave to disregard. It should also be clear that these challenges cannot be effectively tackled in an environment of political fragmentation and fractured regional architecture. There is indeed a need to “Re-Imagine” South Asia and identify pathways to the peace, progress and prosperity that our peoples so deeply yearn for and richly deserve.

To begin with, we must overcome zero-sum mindsets, foster an environment of dialogue, peaceful co-existence, economic inter-dependence, and win-win cooperation. It is equally essential to build an edifice grounded firmly in the principles of “open and inclusive” regionalism.

Creating a conducive environment and establishing the requisite regional architecture to address the security and development deficits is imperative. Artificial obstacles created in the way of SAARC -- which remains our first choice as an instrument of regional cooperation -- must be removed and the Organization be enabled to start re-functioning.

Earlier this year, Bangladesh, China and Pakistan established a trilateral mechanism to foster mutual collaboration in areas of common interest. This concept can be expanded and replicated. As I have said before, there could be “groups with variable geometry” on issues from economy to technology to connectivity. Our own national development needs and regional priorities cannot, and should not be held hostage to anyone’s rigidity.

Pakistan envisions a South Asia where connectivity replaces divisions, economies grow in synergy, disputes are resolved peacefully,in accordance with international legitimacy, and where peace is maintained with dignity. We remain ready to work with all willing partners to help South Asia realize its immense potential. I have no doubt that our region, too, shall see the day, Insha Allah, when we will match the levels of economic integration and growth rates of the regions that we see with so much envy today.

Distinguished participants,

I wish you all very productive and insightful discussions during the 2-day Conclave. May your deliberations lay the intellectual foundations for the much-needed reimagining of South Asia which can be translated into practical policy recommendations.

Thank you.

Pakistan Zindabad!

Islamabad

December 3, 2025

*****