By Kuldip Nayar

In the darkness of night, we lit candles to let the world see the beginning of a new chapter in the annals of India and Pakistan. Ours was the 17th pilgrimage — we have been doing it every year since 1994 — to the Attari-Wagah border this week. Today I am convinced that even though the journey is long, there is no reason to doubt that we will not be able to make the destination.

By Jai

Despite all the violence and destruction that occurred across England during the recent riots, there were also some heartening developments. Most well-known, of course, is the reaction of Tariq Jahan, the inspirational father of one of the young men murdered in Birmingham as they attempted to protect the local population from the rioters. Mr Jahan’s extraordinary dignity and calls for peace on the basis of our common humanity played a huge part in preventing the situation from spiralling into even worse violence.

By Sam Phripp

The speeches this week by David Cameron and Ed Milliband made for a very interesting bit of bed-time reading. For me, both the Prime Minister and the Labour leader were pretty wide of the mark.

By Ali Usman

Pakistan and India need to resolve bilateral issues and increase trade for the betterment of the people of the two countries, PML-N President Nawaz Sharif has said. Addressing a seminar titled ‘Building Bridges Together’ arranged by the South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA) in connection with Independence Day here on Saturday, Sharif said India and Pakistan had a common heritage and culture and he supported talks between the two countries to solve all problems.

By Syed Mohammad Ali

The government’s inability to curb a predictable spike in food prices during the month of Ramazan is receiving much media attention and criticism. However, this recurrent trend is just the tip of the iceberg of a much larger problem of persistent food price volatility and overall food inflation.

By Keith Flett

David Starkey [1945-] is a Tudor historian who has made the leap from being an academic to one of a small group of ‘TV historians’ who popularise history for a wider audience.