While much has been said and written about the cost of the political turmoil in Kashmir for India and Pakistan, there is no authoritative study or research done on the subject that could have actualized the financial burden imposed on the two countries by the internecine violence that has taken a huge toll on people on both sides of the Line of Control. There is no doubt that the two South Asian nuclear powers have other, more urgent issues that need the attention of policymakers. But at the same time it is perplexing to see such issues missing from the discourses in power corridors. It would not be an exaggeration to state that the two countries spend billions of dollars on procuring arms and latest gadgetry used in wars, like modern fighter aircrafts and supersonic jets. However, at the same time, there is a vast swathe of impoverished and dispossessed people in our subcontinent whose miserable plight has not attracted enough sympathy of the successive governments. For example, according to official data, one out of 40 newborns in India die at birth due to a number of factors that are related to malnutrition, lack of hygiene and other associated reasons. Hundreds of people die due to hunger and disease every year in Pakistan, yet the country’s policymakers are perennially focused on firming up the military machinery and expanding the scope of its so called strategic assets. This thinking has to change. The sooner it happens, the better it is going to be for the people of our subcontinent. War has not enabled any country to gain new heights or expand its scope of diplomatic influence. Germany was the most feared nation but the Great War turned the country into a cluster of wreckage. There is a visible and progressive shift in thinking among the policymakers in New Delhi which reflects in the statements of the union ministers and leaders of the ruling party. With an even stronger mandate in the second term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself has extended a hand of cooperation towards Pakistan so that the two countries work together and fight the menaces of illiteracy and diseases. The neighboring country must seize the opportunity and shelve its old thinking of using militant groups as strategic assets. Surely India and Pakistan will progress together and make greater contributions towards the humanity by making peace with each other and not war!