Teresita Schaffer, South Asia programme director at the Centre for Strategic International Studies (CSIS), emphasised the need for Pakistan to give up its hopes of seizing Kashmir, saying the Line of Control (LoC) that divides the region between India and Pakistan was "almost certain to remain in place".

But even if the territorial divisions of the last five decades do not change, the political relationships would have to, she added while speaking at a seminar on "Democracy and Terrorism" here.

The seminar was co-hosted by the Asia Society Washington Centre and the Upadhyaya Foundation.

Other speakers at the seminar included Ved Nanda of the University of Denver College of Law, Peter Bergen, adjunct professor at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University and fellow of New America Foundation, and Kamal Kher, professor of pediatrics, George Washington University School of Medicine and Chief of Nephrology Division at the Children's National Medical Centre in Washington DC.

Schaffer, a former diplomat who has served in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, said: "Kashmir should be treated as a problem of the people and not as a dispute over territory.

"A settlement of the Kashmir issue will need to create some kind of special status for Kashmir, but it must address Pakistan's chronic insecurity while putting an end to Pakistani efforts to change the contours of the region."

Pakistan's rulers and its Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) have played a central role in coordinating the efforts of the militants in Kashmir to engineer a "Jihadi conflict", making it all the more difficult for the resumption of bilateral dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi, speakers said.

Some speakers suggested democratisation of Pakistan while others called for cutting off funds for militants operating from there and dismantling the network of madrassahs as possible steps for normalisation of ties between the neighbours.