Elections in Pakistan are over. Though the mandate is regional, as no party has shown a nation wide presence, PML-N has attained a majority in Pakistan’s national assembly after 18 independent candidates joined the party. D. Raghunandan of Newsclick.in discusses the factors governing the present political environment of Pakistan with the senior journalist Seema Mustafa.

Who is more civilized ? India or pakistan? The debate is at its peak after the deaths of Sarabjit and Sanaullah but nobody is talking about the conditions of prisons and prisoners' rights. Prabir Purkayastha of Newsclick discusses the ignored reasons behind the deaths of Indian and Pakistani prisoners with two human rights lawyers, N.D. Pancholi and Nandita Haksar.

India is not just the hawks and the anchors on television, but a large motley of sane people holding sober and rational views.

At one end of Delhi, in the verdant campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, scholars gathered to update one another on the current trends in Historical Materialism.

A.B. Bardhan, former General Secretary, CPI, in a public meeting organised by the Centre for Policy Analysis, fears of the entire Kashmir becoming a police state if the J&K government passes the proposed Police Bill

Prakash Karat, General Secretary, CPI (M), in a public meeting organised by the Centre for Policy Analysis, condemns the Police Bill proposed by the J&K government as draconian and anti-democratic as it will provide the same impunity to the J&K police that the Indian Army enjoys under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

Bakht Arif is a Pakistani artist and singer, well-known for her song 'Zinda Lash'. The song ,derived from the Cranberries’ Zombie, is a cry against the injustices plaguing the society. Bakht Arif speaks to Newsclick on the making of the song and shares her experiences.

After threatening for quite some time to do so, North Korea carried out a third underground test of a nuclear device on its own territory just a few days back.

The execution of Afzal Guru by the Indian state as well as the manner in which it was done, must rank as one of its most shameful acts. That death penalty should be carried out in this day and age, that too without letting his family get a last chance to see him, shows the Indian state in very poor light indeed.

India not only has hideous poverty and repression but also an unsustainable growth model, which offers little hope to the mass of the population.

Noam Chomsky, exclusive interview with Newsclick’s Vijay Prashad.