Pak’s tryst with terror

Pakistan had been on high alert for Monday’s Ashura processions, which have been a flashpoint of sectarian violence in the past. However, it was on Sunday that a suicide bomber caused carnage at the flag-lowering ceremony at the Wagah border with India, not far from Lahore, at an event that popular with tourists on both sides of the international border. The blast is thought to be in retaliation to the Pakistan Army’s recent offensive against militant strongholds in tribal Waziristan and three different groups have claimed responsibility. Truth to tell, Pakistan’s tryst with terrorism is owed far more to the culture of violence it helped unleash by sponsorship of terrorism as an instrument of state policy aimed at India in the last 30 years or so. Today it is paying the price for it.

While there is no limit to the sympathy India feels for victims of terrorism anywhere in the world, Pakistan must understand that terrorism has to be fought with sincere commitment and without compromise. No matter how much Pakistan plays the sympathy card that it is a victim of terrorism, the nation will not be taken at face value. The Americans may have seen through its ruse, which is why they do not always take Pakistan into confidence while waging war against terrorism. If Pakistan understands this principle, accepts it and is willing to cooperate with friends and neighbours, many avenues will open up for a genuine fight against the designs of malcontents who think nothing of blowing themselves up.