5th Panos-Himal Roundtable

PARTICIPANTS

The national-security state

Aitzaz Ahsan, former Interior Minister, the Pakistan People's Party        

The impact of fundamentalist groups on policy
Bharat Bhushan, editor, Delhi, The Telegraph

The Hindu-Muslim question
Shahid Siddiqui, MP and General Secretary, Samajwadi Party        

The national-economic-security state
Talat Hussain, director, News and Current Affairs, Aaj TV

The opportunity of the current context
Salman Haidar, former Foreign Secretary of India        

The external context

Tasneem Noorani, former Interior and Commerce Secretary, Pakistan

Reality testing
N Ram, executive Editor, The Hindu        

Changing ideology
Hameed Haroon, CEO, Dawn Group of Publications

Introduction
The Panos-Himal Southasian media gatekeepers' roundtable,11-12 November 2006.

Since May 2002, five gatekeepers' roundtables have been held on the India-Pakistan engagement, organised by Panos South Asia and Himal Southasian. These started with the understanding that rapprochement between New Delhi and Islamabad is all-important for a safe, secure and prosperous Southasia, and have subsequently addressed a series of critical bilateral topics between the two antagonists. The reports on the discussions, all of which have been printed in past issues of this magazine, are a barometer of the changing times and moods. We notice in them that, even amidst continuing domestic and international challenges, there is a permanent place for reasoned debate and mature deliberation in the India-Pakistan dialogue.

The fifth and latest roundtable was held on 11-12 November 2006 in Cairo. Under the theme "Are India and Pakistan really in control of the situation?", the meeting discussed the following issues:

* Internal factors in India influencing relations with Pakistan, including issues related to political equations, vote banks, radical groups, popular will, militancy and so on.

* Internal factors in Pakistan influencing relations with India, including the role of the military, radical groups, political factors, popular will, militancy and so on.
* External influences on bilateral relations vis-à-vis Pakistan, including the 'US factor', the West's positioning and the Islamic world, energy needs, the role of China and so on.
* External influences on bilateral relations vis-à-vis India, including the 'US factor', energy needs, the role of China and so on.