India and Pakistan are back to their familiar game of mutual hatred. The latest flash point has come over repeated violations of the cease-fire along the Line of Control. The two adversaries have accused each other of violating the cease-fire, which came into place in 2003. This has been the longest cease-fire in the history of India and Pakistan. Put in place during the tenure of Pakistani General Pervez Musharraf, this is among the few confidence-building measures to last so long despite repeated violations, minor or major.

While referring to the recent border row between India and Pakistan, a panel at the Jaipur Literature Festival blamed the media for feeding people with "petty prejudices" instead of playing a positive role. The panelists, while holding discussion in the session 'Neighbours: Walls and Bridges', appealed to work on the "commonalities" present in the two countries.

Humans are typically averse to foreign spy agencies killing their countrymen. Could public diplomacy really rally Pakistanis in favor of drone strikes on their own soil? Could it really disabuse them of the notion that drones bring carnage, given that they do? The authors are absolutely right: the drone program is unpopular only among the people who know about it. Pakistanis who don't know about it don't think about it in unfavorable terms... or at all!

A US academic has said it was imperative for youth exchanges to take place between the US and Pakistan so that unfounded stereotypes could be erased. Dr Michael Hannahan, director of the University of Massachusetts Civic Initiative, said 25 young people from Pakistan were visiting the US every summer. “These travels change people’s lives.”

Yes, drone strikes are not very popular among a large section of Pakistani society. But Pakistanis are not united in opposition to drone strikes. In fact, many Pakistanis support the drone strikes. This suggests that there is room for the United States to engage in a public diplomacy campaign to win over more Pakistanis to the idea that drone strikes are not the bringers of carnage that is so often portrayed in the Urdu-language media in Pakistan.

Pakistani-American artist Shahzia Sikander has been honoured with the US State Department's inaugural Medal of Arts for her "outstanding commitment" to the "Art in Embassies" programme. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton conferred the award on Sikander at a ceremony in Washington, the Daily Times reported. With an eye on cultural exchange and visual diplomacy, the "Art in Embassies" creates permanent and temporary art exhibitions in over 200 diplomatic venues worldwide.

Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said on Tuesday that present Government of Pakistan People’s Party is determined to take every possible step to promote and project the culture of Pakistan not only at home but also abroad because we understand that culture is a tool which can be used for creating a soft image of the nation.

Federal Minister for National Heritage and Integration Samina Khalid Ghurki has stressed for the exchange of cultural programmes with Iran to strengthen the ties between both the countries. In a meeting here on with Iranian Cultural Counselor Taghi Sadeghi, they both discussed the matters of mutual interests and for promotion and projection of culture of both countries through cultural exchange programmes among masses and youth.