By IANS,
Islamabad : More than just taking action against the perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage, Pakistan must shut down the terror networks operating in this country, an editorial in a leading English daily said Wednesday, while another urged India to stop the blame game and take the investigations to their logical conclusion.
“Prosecution of the Mumbai suspects will only bring partial closure to the issue. The second half is political and will depend on Pakistan’s commitment to shutting down militant networks that operate here,” Dawn said in an editorial headlined “Response to Mumbai”.
At the same time, it admitted that the closure of the terror network was an area “where the issue becomes murkier”.
Noting that the government had locked some offices of the Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) and curbed the movement of a few of its leaders, the editorial said it was “still not clear if a full-scale closure is in the offing”.
“Indeed, on Kashmir Day, members of the erstwhile Jamaat-ud Dawa gathered under the banner of a new organisation,” Dawn said.
“This must not be allowed to happen. A selective response to the threat from militants will only embolden them, and complicate regional relationships,” the newspaper added.
According to Daily Times, what was required “at this stage is for India to stop blaming Pakistan and get serious about taking the investigation to a logical conclusion”.
The editorial was headlined “Politics versus cooperation”.
“Unfortunately, the issue has become political with India trying to use Mumbai as a stick to beat Pakistan with and isolate it diplomatically,” Daily Times said.
On the plus side, it maintained, “while the world wants Pakistan to act against any alleged culprits, it also understands the degree of difficulty (in doing so)”.
The News commented in a similar vein.
“If India truly wants Pakistan to conduct an investigation it cannot expect it to do so blindfold and with one hand tied behind its back. Pakistan for its part needs to do a reality check,” it said in an editorial headlined trading dossiers.
Accepting that the attackers were Pakistani by origin “but most unlikely to be acting at the behest of the state, they were trained somewhere and the operation was not planned on the back of an envelope ten minutes before it was launched – and part of both events but probably not all may have occurred in Pakistan”, The News said.
It was also “becoming clearer” that the “complex and expensive operation involved several countries and their nationals, including India, and demonstrates a sophistication of strategic and operational planning and logistical management that is worthy of any professional military force.
“That is a reality which few can deny, and is a measure of the strength of the forces opposed to the peaceful coexistence of both of us – India and Pakistan,” The News maintained.