If India and China are changing, so are many other countries who realise the futility of trying to persuade a bunch of religious fundamentalists, now enjoying absolute power, to change their way of treating their people.

The India factor - and the burning desire to get even militarily for the East Pakistan debacle - loomed large in whatever he did or say, especially after he became the country’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), a designation he gave himself after seizing power in 1999 and later, as the President.

Pakistan had assiduously sought to acquire “strategic depth” against India in Afghanistan by installing the Taliban, but that has now becomes its “terror depth,” security analysts say.  They lament that the western border has become "riskier" than the eastern one with India.

With India's pluralist traditions coming increasingly under question under a Hindu majoritarian dispensation, and a vicious call-out culture directed insidiously against Muslim stars and their films from Bollywood, the overwhelming popular response to the film - with social media images of people dancing in the aisles and in front of the screen…

“Indeed, the West Pakistani elite — politicians, bureaucracy, military — all played a role in aggravating the crisis,” a Dawn editorial said, adding: “Unfortunately, we as a nation have yet to come to terms with the bitter truths of 1971.”

Khan, the government, and the military establishment seem to have taken extreme positions, leaving no room for rapprochement for now, plunging Pakistan into political chaos.

The salvation for Pakistan’s body politic, wherein democracy is aspired by those who are not democrats themselves, may remain unfortunately with the men in uniform.

The Chinese presence in Pakistan, with or outside of the CPEC, and the TTP's defiance, although not directly related, do pose growing security challenges to Pakistan and China, especially when the two want to combine forces to extend the CPEC to Afghanistan.

With her Awami League in power since 2009, Bangladesh has seen the army keeping away from a political role, has witnessed relative political stability and rapid economic strides, marking higher human development indicators better than most others in South Asia

Both Gwadar and Mundra ports are close to a turbulent region that is violent and militancy-prone. If Gwadar has security problems from within, Mundra has them from without