India's blame game

From the Joint Police Commissioner, State Ministers, Foreign Ministers to the Prime Minister, they all pointed their fingers at Pakistan. Indian leadership “summoned” the Pakistan head of state to send the Chief of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan to India. The Indian intelligence and law enforcement agencies claimed that the culprits, along with their heavy ammunition, entered Mumbai by boat from Karachi a week before the attacks. They belonged to Pakistan’s based militant group “Lashkar-e-Taiba” which had already been banned in Pakistan in 2002. India media has also exaggerated the blame game made by Indian politicians and government.

One cannot ignore the possibility of the hand of one or more of these militant groups who are active in Pakistan including the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba. First, even if Indian sources were finding some leads across the border, the Indian government and its politicians should have behaved in a responsible manner in order to keep the peace and stability between the two nations. These are the incidents where the real intentions of governments and politicians can be tested. Second, it should be noted that Lashkar-e-Taiba has already been banned in Pakistan. Pakistani forces are already fighting against members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Taliban, al-Qaida and other extremists groups.

Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mohammed Qureshi was already in India having meetings with Indian counterparts and the head of state on various issues of mutual interest when the Mumbai incident happened. Talking to the media in India, Mr Qureshi very strongly condemned the attacks. Similarly the Pakistani Prime Minster, Yousuf Raza Gilani, and the President, Asif Ali Zardari, also contacted the Indian counterparts, condemned the incidents and offered their full support - including assurance to punish any culprits linked to Pakistan who may be involved.

In his recent interview to the Financial Times, the Pakistani President said that even if the militants were linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, who do you think Pakistan was fighting against? He asked whose country it was that was battling al-Qaida and the Taliban militants on its shared border with Afghanistan. President Zardari warned that provocation by these rogues would pose the danger of a return to war between the nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.

Most of the international powers including UK and USA acknowledged the response of the Pakistani government. They also offered their support to co-operate with the Indian authorities in order to find those responsible.

In this situation, India must avoid the blame game and instead develop long-term relations with its neighbours by resolving all pending issues - especially with Pakistan. Recently, people from different walks of life have started to build-up bilateral relations especially in trade, sports, media and art. Even at state levels both countries were signing agreements for opening more diplomatic channels aimed at building relations in different areas.

India must not sabotage these efforts to build relations by acting antagonistically. Similarly, India has to work at strengthening its homeland security by banning extremist organisations and groups, combating local terrorism and violence, and providing security and justice to the minorities.