By IANS,
London : British newspapers Wednesday described Pakistan as a “failing state” and said it was time its politicians and generals stopped supporting jehadis, a day after a terror attack in Lahore killed eight people and wounded six Sri Lankan cricketers.
The Times described as “absurd” the initial claim by a Pakistani minister that the terrorists involved in Tuesday’s attack were Indians.
“President (Asif Ali) Zardari’s principal enemy is within and, until he and his ministers understand this, there is little chance that they will find the will and means to deal with the terrorist threat. India’s assertion that Pakistan has done next to nothing to pursue the masterminds of the Mumbai attacks has proven all too true.
“No real effort has been made to disband Lashker-e-Taiba, the extremist organisation implicated in Islamist terrorism. Pakistan’s initial denials of knowledge or responsibility have been grudgingly followed by a few token arrests – and, on past form, those held will be quietly released in a few months.
“The truth is that the army, the compromised Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency and the political establishment have shown no serious interest in confronting the Islamists. They have too many sympathisers in their own ranks to risk a crackdown and too many fifth columnists ready to tip off the terrorists.”
“The generals must strip out misplaced support for jehadis,” The Times added.
The Daily Telegraph said Tuesday’s daylight attack showed Pakistan’s decades old policy of “stoking the fire of Muslim radicalism” had come home to roost.
“And yet, what has been the reaction of those who run Pakistan? They blame America for dragging them into a war they do not want. They blame India for providing a launching-pad for terrorism.”
“The state founded by Mohammed Ali Jinnah may be in extreme danger, but the security forces still harbour sympathy for its enemies, and the politicians continue to squabble, as if they had learned nothing from the failures of the previous period of democratic rule in the 1990s.
“It is no use blaming outsiders: the canker is within. Pakistan needs to wake up.”
The left-wing Guardian described Pakistan as “a failing state”, saying: “If there is a government in power, it is not obvious to its citizens.”
“If this shooting does not galvanise Islamabad to take action nothing will,” the paper said, adding “the alternative is foretold: regime change scripted or enacted by the army.”