Prof. Aijaz Ahmad discusses with Newsclick the implications of cyberwar and drone attacks in other countries.

Prof. Aijaz Ahmad discusses with Newsclick the implications of cyberwar and drone attacks in other countries.

A blinkered look at the future of US involvement in Afghanistan and Pakistan continues to place hope in those who have failed so far.

Prakash Karat, speaking in the Conference...discusses the challenges before theft in South Asia in promoting peace and a development agenda for the people. He also speaks on the need for the Left in India to take the initiative to bring together the Left in South Asia.

Parvez Hoodbhoy, the well-known physicist and peace activist from Pakistan argues that while physically, things might have improved as less attacks are taking place today from the militants, there is an accommodation by the Pakistani state of terror outfits and the militants. Once again, Pakistan's strategic needs -- in Afghanistan and elsewhere -- may be taking precedence over its domestic impreatives. The victims will be the minorities in Pakistan, not only Christians, Ahmediayas, Hindus, but also  the Shias, who number 20-30% of Pakistan's population.

Pakistani lawmaker and Senior PPP leader traces the ways in which hostility between India and Pakistan has been sharpened – from elusive visas and bureaucratic hurdles to dangerous nukes piling up on both sides of the border. Given this situation, what are some positive, two-way strategies to shape a safer subcontinent?

Perhaps for the first time since 1947, there is the real possibility of restructuring Indo Pak relations, says Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar. The neighbours see that an end to confrontation will mean valuable benefits to both. In Pakistan, there is recognition that confrontation with India only aggravates its internal problems; in India, there is recognition that confrontation with Pakistan is a threat to secularism, the core which holds the nation together. This is an exceptional moment in history, a moment that must be seized.

Fahim Khan, of the Dawn Group of Newspapers, comments on the conjencture that the Pakistani security establishment finds itself in - under pressure from the US demanding action on fundamentalists (some of whom it is closely allied with), hardly any support for its actions from the people of Pakistan and a political establishment that is attempting to assert its independence. A Newsclick Production.

Cleverly, the Washington establishment seeks to reorder events so that it can take credit for things it did not do and pass on the blame for things it did do. President Barack Obama not only wants to share the Arab Spring's glory but, with the Group of Eight (G8) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), wants to help shape its aftermath. On the other hand, Obama seeks to avert his eyes from the mess of Afghanistan and pay less heed to the desperate rants from President Hamid Karzai about the manufactured futility of his country.