jan 2,2009

A changing scenario

WHILE the danger of a military confrontation between India and Pakistan has not completely vanished, there are indications that the leaderships of both countries as well as the US have realised that maintaining the present tempo of tension would not be in anyone's interest except that of the terrorists. Therefore, the war cries that had been emanating from New Delhi has been replaced with saner voices. That is also evident from remarks of White House Deputy Press Secretary Gordon Johndroe, who said, after President Bush had spoken to President Zardari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday, "all the three leaders from the United States, India and Pakistan agreed that no one wanted to take any steps that unnecessarily raise tension." The clarification from Washington that it never asked Islamabad to hand over the accused to New Delhi should be seen in this light. The Americans, who had, in the first instance, blindly gone along with the Indian version without caring to verify the evidence to put Islamabad under maximum pressure, have, it seems, at last felt that the persistence of the present scenario would distract Islamabad's focus on the war on terror front along the Pak-Afghan border. Hence, President Bush's telephone calls to the leaders of the two countries. Mr Bush, who urged them to cooperate in investigating the Mumbai attacks, should be counselling his Indian friends to come forward with the proof of the involvement of elements from Pakistan to enable it to properly proceed against the culprits, rather than trying to pressure it to rush into punishing the persons New Delhi has repeatedly blamed for terrorist acts on its soil.
Meanwhile, contradictory versions about FBI's findings whether Kasab, whom India is supposed to have caught red-handed in the Mumbai carnage, has any link with Pakistan have appeared, defying attempts to get at the truth. However, The Wall Street Journal has reported that Zarar Shah of the Lashkar-i-Taiba has confessed to being one of the principal planners of the Mumbai incident. If that turns out to be true, Pakistan would have to put him on trial because Mr Zardari has unequivocally stated that Pakistan would not stand non-state actors using its territory to plan terrorist attacks in other countries.
The world ought to accept COAS Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani's demand and put pressure on India to cooperate with Pakistan by sharing all details of the evidence it has about the Mumbai killings. It would then rest with Pakistan to investigate whether its soil has been used to mastermind them and in case the Indian charges turn out to be correct, the international community could see whether the guilty are punished. Taking anyone to task on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations goes against the basic principles of justice.

sources:http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-ne...nging-scenario

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~~We JuDgE OurseLves By What we feeL CapabLe Of doing,While OthErs JudGe Us By whaT we have already DonE~~