Lashkar-e-Taiba or "Army of the Pious" was banned in Pakistan in 2002 but it continues to operate in Pakistan under the garb of a charity organisation, Jamaat-ud-Dawa. Similarly, al-Qaeda and the Taliban, with strong footholds in Pakistan's Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA), continue to pose grave threat to nascent democracy in the country. In the Swat valley, some 100 miles from 
the capital city Islamabad, at least eight people were killed and 40 others injured when a suicide bomber attacked a military check post on December 1. The intelligentsia in Pakistan is equally alarmed by developments following mayhem in Mumbai.
"The inhuman and callous attack in Mumbai is a great surprise to each and every Pakistani. When hopes were high that India and Pakistan relationship was going to be normalised, various routes between India and Pakistan were going to be opened, the trade between the two countries were on the verge of taking off, and the uselessness of military establishment was going to be a reality, this incident is a stab in the back of the people of Pakistan. I hope that the two governments will stop the blame game and rise above in the interest of common man and appreciate the new reality of a global village," said Dr Syed Haroon Ahmed, an eminent psychiatrist and president of Pakistan Association for Mental Health.
Veteran journalist and peace activist MB Naqvi concurred. "Speculation about who organised the Mumbai outrage is useless. Both India and Pakistan are among the usual suspects. It is quite possible that Pakistan''s security establishment has decided to derail the Indo-Pak peace process and to keep the two at daggers drawn; it will suit its long-term purposes," he said.
The Mumbai carnage and subsequent developments have also alarmed the US government because war between India and Pakistan would mean diversion from the "war on terror", that is neither in the interest of the US nor the vast majority inhabiting South Asia.....Continue
the capital city Islamabad, at least eight people were killed and 40 others injured when a suicide bomber attacked a military check post on December 1. The intelligentsia in Pakistan is equally alarmed by developments following mayhem in Mumbai."The inhuman and callous attack in Mumbai is a great surprise to each and every Pakistani. When hopes were high that India and Pakistan relationship was going to be normalised, various routes between India and Pakistan were going to be opened, the trade between the two countries were on the verge of taking off, and the uselessness of military establishment was going to be a reality, this incident is a stab in the back of the people of Pakistan. I hope that the two governments will stop the blame game and rise above in the interest of common man and appreciate the new reality of a global village," said Dr Syed Haroon Ahmed, an eminent psychiatrist and president of Pakistan Association for Mental Health.
Veteran journalist and peace activist MB Naqvi concurred. "Speculation about who organised the Mumbai outrage is useless. Both India and Pakistan are among the usual suspects. It is quite possible that Pakistan''s security establishment has decided to derail the Indo-Pak peace process and to keep the two at daggers drawn; it will suit its long-term purposes," he said.
The Mumbai carnage and subsequent developments have also alarmed the US government because war between India and Pakistan would mean diversion from the "war on terror", that is neither in the interest of the US nor the vast majority inhabiting South Asia.....Continue
