1. On January 18 - Dawn reported that chief minister Mehbooba Mufti had proposed the opening of a newtrade route that would negate regional conflict. 2. The route would connect diverse communities now suffering under the long-simmering India-Pakistan conflict. 3. She held up Kashmir as the most game-changingtrading nucleus connecting South Asia with Central Asia. 4. Mufti must have pondered long because her statement contains a lot of detail about the route that is supposed to deliver "regional cooperation - energytransformation - trade and transit" with Kashmir as its central point. 5. A hostile Pakistan has stood between India and its potential trade partners in Central Asia.