Pak only 'orchestrating terrorism' by blaming India for every terror attack: Editorial

Islamabad, June 19 (ANI): While terror strikes across Pakistan continues unabated, authorities have not spared a single opportunity to blame India for creating havoc inside Pakistan, but an editorial carried out in Pakistan's leading daily highlights the fact that Islamabad must introspect on its own deeds before putting the blame on its neighbour.

Recently, Lahore police nabbed one Zubair alias Naik Muhammad, allegedly involved in the terrorist attack on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team.

Zubair is a member of the Punjab Taliban, an offshoot of the banned terror organisation Lashkar-e Jhangvi, which has strong ties with Al Qaeda, the editorial said.

While announcing the arrest of Zubair, and his nefarious links with several militant groups, the Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) of Lahore, Pervaiz Rathore, forgot that it was him who had held India responsible for the terror strike on the islanders immediately after the brazen incident on March 3, it added.

How many times we have seen Pakistan denying links with extremists, or providing safe haven to terrorist organizations? Innumerable, the editorial opined.

However, Pakistan, by denying the world known fact, is actually orchestrating terrorism, which is now even threatening its own sovereignty, it went on to add.

It feared that what was really disturbing was the involvement of militias based in South Punjab in different terror acts.

"Mumbai was attacked from South Punjab. Most of the suicide-bombers have been from this region which is characterised by large feudal holdings in the countryside and extreme poverty in the cities," the editorial said.

It quoted the famous US writer, Selig Harrison, as also having raised fears about the increasing threat perception emanating from the region which stretches from Jhang to Bahawalpur, and is dotted with madrassas.

"The danger of an Islamist takeover of Pakistan is real. It comes from a proliferating network of heavily armed Islamist militias in the Punjab heartland and major cities, directed by Lashkar-e-Toiba, a close ally of Al Qaeda, which staged the terrorist attack last November in Mumbai," said Harrison.

Apart from the madrassas, which are categorised by the people as jihadi and non-jihadi, there are mosques that supply fighters and suicide-bombers to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, the editorial said.

The trend had started during the Taliban rule in Kabul in the 1990s and has continued after the establishment of Lal Masjid as an entrepôt of warriors moving between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the editorial concluded. (ANI)