By IANS
Islamabad : India and Pakistan have displayed “restraint and maturity” in not blaming each other for recent terrorist acts in their countries and have “risen to the occasion” by agreeing to fight off the common enemy, an editorial in a leading Pakistani newspaper said Wednesday.
“The restraint and the maturity shown by leaders of India and Pakistan in recent months by avoiding to blame each other in the aftermath of terrorist assaults that have taken place in both countries will help further the confidence that is needed for the composite India-Pakistan dialogue to advance,” Dawn said.
“The (India-Pakistan anti-terror) mechanism seems to be working in that instead of blaming each other for acts of terrorism taking place in one country or the other, New Delhi and Islamabad have at long last risen to the occasion, agreeing to fight off the common enemy,” it added.
The editorial was titled “The common enemy”. It noted that foreign ministry officials from the two countries, at their meeting in New Delhi earlier this week, had reported progress on the anti-terrorism mechanism set up by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at their meeting in Havana last year.
“It is hardly a moot point now that terrorist groups responsible for (recent) attacks, whether they are based in Pakistan or India, have cross-border linkages. The acknowledgement of the fact by the two sides has taken a long time in coming, for which lack of mutual confidence could be cited as a plausible reason.
“Now that this hurdle has been crossed, it is time to frankly exchange intelligence information that can lead to the busting of terrorist rings which may not be operating under one umbrella organisation,” the editorial contended.
It added that radical Islamists as well as Hindu extremists may represent two opposing sides of the spectrum, but when it comes to derailing the peace process between India and Pakistan both seem to have a cause to live and die for.
“The masterminds of any given acts of terrorism may be physically present in one country or the other, the fact is that they can readily find collaborators in the targeted country,” the editorial said, stressing that such multiple nexuses need to be identified and busted.
“Hence the need to sit across the table, take stock of the situation and discuss ways and means to prevent such attacks in the future.”