PAKISTAN and Afghanistan have in recent weeks and months witnessed a wave of serious terrorist incidents that have cost the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians. Alarmingly, most of the attacks have been the handiwork of the so-called Islamic State (Daesh). It no longer can be denied that the lethal terrorist group has sprung roots in the sub continent. The suicide attack on one of the most famous Sufi shrines in the region, the Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, situated in Sindh province, in the third week of February is an illustration.

A seminar on ‘Fidel’s Legacy for Cuba, Latin America and the World’ was organised by the Friends of Latin America-India at Sahid Surya Sen Bhavan in Kolkata on February 19. The organisation secretary Suman Putatunda started the programme, discussing how Fidel Castor had transformed his country and later, the rest of South America as a symbol of resistance and social justice to the oppressed millions of this planet.

The South Asian Peasants Convergence (SAPC) on Food Sovereignty and Peasants Rights held at Kathmandu, Nepal on February 2-3, 2017, was attended by over 100 delegates from Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It was hosted by the All Nepal Peasants Federation (ANPFa), an umbrella association of Nepali peasants fighting against feudalism, imperialism and neoliberalism that was founded in 1951. With the ushering in of the Democratic Republic of Nepal the organisation has expanded in keeping with the evolution of peasant consciousness and struggles.

AFTER years of protracted negotiations, India and Japan finally inked a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement in November last year, during the course of the State visit by the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi. The deal will now allow Japan to supply India with nuclear fuel, equipment and technology for nuclear power production. India and Japan had started negotiations soon after the signing of the India-US nuclear deal in 2006. Formal negotiations started six years ago.

THE election of Rodrigo Duterte to the Philippine presidency could mean the realisation of America's worst nightmare in the region coming true. The Philippines is the lynchpin of the Obama administration's military “pivot to the East”, aimed at militarily encircling China. Now within a few months after being sworn in as president, Duterte is threatening to upset the American applecart by not only cosying up to China but also threatening political and military “separation” from the United States. Philippines is America's oldest military ally in the region.