It has long been believed in India that there are elements in Pakistan, especially in the army and the ISI, its spy agency, who do not want any peace between the two countries because, in that case, they will lose their salience in Pakistani society. The latest beheading and mutilation of two Indian soldiers near the Line of Control in Kashmir have been seen as yet another attempt by these groups to derail the peace process writes Amulya Ganguly

The dramatic arrival of a Pakistani cleric, Allama Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri, from Canada where he had been settled since many years created quite a stir though no major upheaval. At least 1000,000 men, women and children joined the long march which began in Lahore and reached Islamabad on 14 January writes Ishtiaq Ahmed

About twenty Afghans from the quasi-governmental High Peace Council (HPC), the  main political opposition parties in Afghanistan, the Taliban, as well as and the Hezb-e-Islami militant group met at Chantilly, fifty kilometers north of Paris to break ice and make way for more meaningful talks between the Afghan government and the main Taliban group belonging to the Quetta Shura writes Monish Gulati

In spite of the shrill jingoism played out 24x7 on the Indian visual media and by a opportunistic political opposition, India’s Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, took seven days to send a warning to Pakistan over the beheading of an Indian soldier and the killing as well as mutilation of another on the Line of Control. Insiders indicate that the mild-mannered and soft-spoken Singh was “seething” at Islamabad’s stubborn refusal over the week to accept responsibility for the barbaric act writes Rashmi Saksena

Internal security in India is far from adequate, and while this is of immediate relevance for the common man, the larger spectrum of national security challenges also needs to be reviewed in a holistic manner writes C. Uday Bhaskar

The year 2012 saw significant moves by the Thein Sein-led government in Myanmar that helped the country take steps towards finding its place in the global mainstream. These helped break the shackles of isolation that Ne Win had placed on the country from 1962 onwards – and which continued under the SLORC and the SPDC governments writes Preet Malik

Compared to the intensity of exchanges and movement in the preceding years, the year 2012 was a relatively sedate one for Indo-Bangladesh relations. The framework of partnership envisaged during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit in January 2010 was further fleshed out during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit in September 2011 writes Deb Mukharji

It was more of the same for Pakistan during 2012. No significant change from 2011 in either domestic or regional and international politics took place. The tug-of-war between a domineering Pakistan Supreme Court, headed by a chief justice who had to face the embarrassment that his son had done shady deals with one of the most successful soldiers of fortune writes Ishtiaq Ahmed

As 2012 draws to a close, the question uppermost in the minds of Maldives watchers is if the country was moving away from the strategic sphere of Indian influence, and has begun tilting towards China, as is often suspected in the case of other nations in the Indian Ocean neighbourhood, near and afar. There are no ready answers that are convincing, but there is nothing to suggest that a ministerial visit here or a bilateral issue of commercial consequences for India there has the potential to effect that change writes N. Sathiya Moorthy

Somali pirates have finally released the Panama-flagged merchant vessel MV Iceberg 1, along with six Indian sailors who were on board. Taken captive in March 2010, the owner of the cargo ship had stopped negotiations with the pirates, whilst also not paying any compensation to the sailor's families. These sailors had been held hostage for 33 months writes Commander (retd) Neil Gadihoke