By IANS,
Islamabad : The horrific blasts in the Indian tourist town of Jaipur that killed 63 shouldn’t derail the India-Pakistan peace process, Pakistani newspapers said Thursday, warning that the danger of bad blood between the two nations escalating was real and finger pointing would achieve no end.
“The finger-pointing is unfortunate,” The News said in an editorial titled “Jaipur carnage”, alluding to a statement by junior Indian home minister Shri Prakash Jaiswal obliquely referring to Pakistan as being responsible for the incident.
“The danger of escalation of bad blood between India and Pakistan at this critical juncture is real,” Daily Times said in an editorial headlined “Jaipur must not derail Indo-Pak peace process”.
“The motives behind the crime could include another bid to sour India-Pakistan relations or perhaps to discourage foreign tourists by targeting one of India’s major tourist attractions,” Dawn said in an editorial headlined “Jaipur terror”.
“It is time the two governments redoubled their efforts to tackle the monster of terrorism jointly,” it maintained, adding: “Already, the normalisation has slowed down because of Pakistan’s domestic crisis.”
It noted that while the India-Pakistan Joint Anti-Terrorism Mechanism put in place after the Havana 2006 summit between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf aimed to identify and counter the sources of terrorism, it had not laid down the procedure to do so.
“One hopes the bureaucratic bottlenecks will be removed, and the mechanism will turn itself into an effective tool in the fight against terrorism,” Dawn said.
“Unfortunately, much of what has happened between India and Pakistan has unfolded within a conflictual paradigm with both states trying to outflank each other,” Daily Times said.
“The fact is that Pakistan is now as vulnerable to terrorist strikes as India has been or remains. This is borne out by the increasing number of terrorist attacks against civilian and military targets inside Pakistan. The menace has therefore come to haunt the region,” the newspaper said.
It also pointed to the danger of negating significant gains India and Pakistan had achieved on the economic, military and diplomatic fronts.
“Pakistan and India have moved closer as never before to signing the final papers on the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline which is expected to take both countries out of their energy crisis. An agreement on Siachen and Sir Creek is nearing. Trade and travel prospects are looking good.
“But this is precisely the juncture at which it is greatly tempting for terrorist groups opposed to Pakistan-India normalisation to strike. If the bilateral equation goes sour, these projects – already late by decades – could go on to the back-burner once again,” Daily Times warned.
According to The News, acts of terrorism that take place in India “often have ramifications that go beyond the matter of the loss of life”.
“Already, at least one minister has suggested a ‘foreign hand’ is involved. While he has refused to name Pakistan, the implications are clear. The same pattern has been seen in the past as well following terrorist strikes.
“Indeed, the allegation of outside involvement is also heard almost equally often in Pakistan after such incidents. The finger-pointing is unfortunate,” the newspaper maintained.
“It would be wise not to engage in any kind of game of accusation or insinuation,” it said, adding: “It goes without saying that should the need arise, Pakistan must extend all possible help and cooperation in tracking down the bombers.”