There have been periods in Iran's long history, such as those of the biblical Cyrus the Great and the Emperor Yazdigard, when it was a beacon of freedom. Will it reclaim this heritage or continue down a totalitarian path? Will Rouhani just prove to be the good cop to Tehran's numerous bad cops, or will he assume the mantle of Cyrus? Much hangs on the answer to this question for Iran's minorities.

Continuing our eastward journey: what can we say of the paradox of Pakistan? On the one hand, we have a parliamentary democracy, flawed certainly but also real, with a reasonably free press, an independent (too independent?) judiciary and a fecund civil society. On the other, terrorists have free rein over the length and breadth of the country. Some groups, like the Taliban and their allies, such as the notorious Haqqani group, arose during the West's attempt, with Pakistani assistance, to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan. That plan succeeded not only in its immediate mission but in the eventual unravelling of the Soviet Union itself. Pakistan has seen it as in its interests not to destroy, completely at least, the Afghan Taliban (though it is difficult to know how to separate the Pakistani Taliban from their fellow-extremists). Pakistan's logic is that they serve as an "insurance policy" should an unfriendly regime emerge in Kabul. One definition of "unfriendly" in this context means friendly towards India.

There are other groups that were created by the Pakistan army itself mainly to infiltrate Indian-held Kashmir. Now that is becoming more difficult, such groups are concentrating on a domestic agenda, i.e. to convert Pakistan into a Wahhabi-Salafi state with no room for Shia, Sufis, Ahmadiyya, Christians or Hindus — in short, anyone other than themselves. 

The only institution capable of tackling both of these groups is the army. No civilian government, whatever its intentions, can manage on its own. Until recently, the army refused to take decisive action on the grounds that there was "no political consensus" on the issue. Commentators have taken this to mean that some significant politicians support these radical movements. More recently, the army was forced to act after militants "executed" a number of captive soldiers and attacked Karachi airport. Whether such action will be decisive in ridding the country of the scourge of extremism remains to be seen.

Compared to totalitarian regimes in the area, Pakistan feels relatively free, even if sometimes journalists pay a heavy price for their activities. Christians and people of other faiths have freedom to worship, to run their own educational and health institutions and to manifest their faith in public. And yet, there have been numerous attacks on churches, temples and other places of worship. Christian villages have been torched and members of the Ahmadiyya community (a heterodox sect) live in fear of their lives. The government always disowns and condemns these acts. Many Muslims have also been shocked by them and some have gone so far as to themselves provide protection for non-Muslim places of worship. This is all very laudable but the blasphemy laws, with mandatory death sentences, remain on the statute books and are a dead hand on freedom of speech, as well as being the means of entrapping numerous Christians and others who then face years in prison (often in solitary confinement for their own protection) before being acquitted by a higher court.