Pakistani papers reject foreign hand theory

New Delhi, Mar 4 (ANI): Prominent Pakistani papers have outrightly rejected Interior Advisor Rehman Malik's statement of a "foreign hand" in the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, suggesting India's role in the incident.

"The democracy of the country has been undermined. Pakistan is under continuous aggression and the foreigners have been targeted with the view to bring a bad name to the country, and I do not overrule a foreign hand in it," said Malik.

The News in its editorial said: "The culture of instinctive denial clicked into gear immediately, fingers were as quickly pointed and assumptions, none of them backed by a shred of empirical evidence, were made."

"The reality is that this is just as likely to be an attack made by our own home-grown terrorist organizations as it is to have been made or facilitated by 'foreign hands'. Nobody noticed that up to 14 heavily armed men were securing a road junction in the centre of Lahore? A reasonable person may infer from this that there was a failure of intelligence," it added.

The Daily Times editorial also criticized the attempt to point fingers at India saying, "It would be a pity if Pakistan responds, like an ex-ISI boss who has already done so, by accusing India's RAW or Israel's Mossad for this attack, as some commentators did in reference to the Marriott blast when an Indo-Pak media war was sparked by the Mumbai attacks."

India has also termed these remarks as irresponsible, and rejected the statements emanating from Pakistan that a foreign hand could be behind the attack on the Lankan team in Lahore on Tuesday. (ANI)