Pakistan must stop, for its own survival, dividing terrorists “into benevolent jihadists and the malevolent ones,” a leading Pakistani human rights activist has said.
I.A. Rehman also said in a column on Thursday that while both India and Pakistan must act with great prudence to save the agenda set by their two leaders, “a special responsibility has fallen on Pakistan”.
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“The challenge Pakistan faces is not confined to defending itself against any Indian allegations of exporting terrorism or convincing the world of its innocence; much more real is the need to prevent the cancer of extremism from destroying Pakistan,” Mr. Rahman said in
“While the bills for our folly of preferring the good Taliban to the bad ones are still coming in, we are now required to stop, for our own survival, dividing terrorists operating within our boundaries into benevolent jihadists and the malevolent ones.”
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Mr. Rahman, also the founding chair of the Pakistan-India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy and the director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said the January 2 terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot “threatens to undermine the prospects for the India-Pakistan understanding” that had improved after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Lahore on Christmas Day and his meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.
The attack left seven Indian security personnel dead. Indian security forces killed all six attackers, who are believed to have sneaked in from Pakistan. Islamabad has promised to help New Delhi track down those who masterminded the audacious attack — if they are Pakistanis.
Don’t play the victim card
Mr. Rahman said Pakistan cannot forever rely on the excuse that terrorists, who mount attacks on India, do not spare Pakistan either.
“This argument means, in the final analysis, that Pakistan cannot overcome the challenge to its own sovereign status, an admission no self-respecting state can hope to live with.
“If some non-state actors in Pakistan can seriously threaten India and thus precipitate an India-Pakistan clash, then they can also find some other ways to undermine the Pakistani state.
“It should not be impossible for Islamabad to realise that whenever any Pakistan-based terrorist group assaults India, it threatens the integrity of Pakistan itself,” Mr. Rahman added.
Pakistan must take the lead: daily
In a related development, a daily has said on Thursday that Pakistan must cooperate with India “with sincerity” to bring to book the masterminds of the terrorist attack on the IAF base if they are indeed Pakistanis.
“It is clear the two countries will need to cooperate on the issue of terrorism,” The News International said in an editorial.
“The word from India is that they are seeking Pakistan’s cooperation in identifying the terrorists and tracing their network. On our side, we need to work towards that with sincerity,” it added.
Potential crisis in ties averted
The daily also said that the January 2 attack on the IAF base at Pathankot had averted a potential crisis in India-Pakistan relations. India had said that all six attackers, believed to be from Pakistan, were killed.
“It [the attack] threatened to halt the improvement in Pak-India ties that we have seen over the past weeks — mainly as a result of diplomacy behind closed doors,” the editorial said.
Phone talk helped cool tensions
It said the telephonic conversation between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi of India and Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan following the terror attack helped a great deal to cool tensions.
“This is a welcome break from the past and shows a new willingness to handle things diplomatically and without attempting to stir up trouble.”
The daily said it was “very good news” that India refused to bow down to pressure to stop the talks scheduled this month between the foreign secretaries of the two countries.