India, July 26 -- For much of the past decade, India-Pakistan relations have been defined by military crises, diplomatic freezes and uncompromising public rhetoric. Since the Pulwama attack in 2019, the revocation of Article 370, the collapse of formal bilateral engagement and, more recently, the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor in 2025, dialogue has virtually disappeared from the vocabulary of official diplomacy.

Yet, over the past few months, a series of developments has reopened a debate that many believed had been settled. Civil society initiatives, unofficial Track-II meetings, statements from influential voices within India's strategic establishment and renewed calls from political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir have rai...