Many jihadists, building on the Palestinian model, increasingly see Kashmir as prime land to conquer: the next great cause for global jihad.
Hamas leaders themselves have explicitly framed the Palestinian and Kashmiri causes as one struggle. High-ranking Hamas envoys who traveled to Kashmir in 2025 to headline the “Kashmir Solidarity and Hamas Operation ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ Conference.” The message stressed at the conference was “The mujahideen of Kashmir and Palestine have become united.”
When India hosted a key G20 conference in Srinagar, the capital of the Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory of India, on May 22 and 23, even though the conference was reportedly attended by around 122 delegates, including 60 foreigners, it was boycotted by Pakistan as well as its longtime allies, China and Turkey.
Pakistan called the meeting “illegal.” Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India, but it is claimed by Pakistan, which has violently targeted the region through terror groups. Hundreds of people therefore rallied in the Pakistan-occupied area of Kashmir to protest the meeting.
