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Will the Bombs Threaten the India-Pakistan Deal

Amit Pyakurel - 5/22/2007

It seems that whenever the negotiating arms of Pakistan and India warms up a little and it gives sense of having a little breakthrough on resolving the historical enmity between these two nations, soon we are alarmed to witness a terrorist attack killing a number of innocents in a very marketplace, roadside, bus station, or railway station in India. The attempts looks to be ostensibly carried out by the terrorists in the intention of sabotaging the peace initiative taken by the both countries, while the representatives from both sides have been holding a series of talks relating to the issues like control of Kashmir, terrorism, drug trafficking, and economic and commercial cooperation between each-other, the dialogue also known as the "composite dialogue."

It was then in July 2006 when the bomb attacks on Mumbai commuter trains killed 257 people. Accordingly, it's still fresh to remember when a suicide bomber blew himself up and killed 16 people inside a courtroom in Pakistan.

Once again, this evil game of killing innocents has repeated regarding the bomb blasts carried out by the terrorists in Samjhauta Express, also known as the peace train, near the northern Indian city called Panipat. This is one of the two existing train that links between the two nations.

The train joining its route from New-Delhi to the Pakistani capital Lahore was suspended after a 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament. The relationship between these two South Asian countries was annoyed following the Indian claim of Pakistani "involvement" in the attack, which the latter strongly refuted, that resulted in the suspension of the train service. The train resumed its service in 2004 as per the result of the peace talks between these two countries, which also resembled a slowly warming relationship between these two not-so-friendly nations.

Since achieving the independence from the British rule in 1947, both Indian and Pakistan have ever been sharing a cold relationship, which had even gone hostile at times in the past, evidently shown by the three-time war between the two nations, twice over the disputed Kashmir province. It's only in the recent years that the relationship seems to be warming up a little, but not without the suspicions and blame game against each-other often still running. The welcoming aspect is that both the nations are now much more serious than in the past to solve the issue of Kashmir and other inter-national political aspects peacefully, through talks.


And in order to sabotage these negotiation attempts of both countries, there often seems to be some terrorist groups, playing the dirty game of blood behind the curtain. The recent attack took place just before when the leaders of both India and Pakistan were scheduled to conduct a highly awaited peace negotiation in New Delhi. Though the former victims of such terror attacks used to be only the Indians, this is the first ever attack that involved the civilians of both countries, in which the majority of those killed are the Pakistani nationals.

Nonetheless, observing the series of events when the citizens of both the countries have been victimized, as terrorism wouldn't victimize only a specified group or opponents, this time both the Pakistani and Indian leaders seem to be more firm on fighting terrorism rather than fight against each other. For instance, both the nations have condemned this dreadful incident and have vowed not to upset the peace process in any manner as a result of the incident, seemingly to defy the intention of the terrorists who may like to derail the peace prospect.

Meanwhile, while the Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri visited New Delhi and met the Indian External Affairs (Foreign) Minister Pranab Mukherjee, he stressed that both India and Pakistan are already pledged to fight the terrorism mutually. He said that he has come to India for improving relations and to carry forward the peace process. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf also said on Monday that the attacks should not undermine the peace efforts, while the similar feeling had been shared by the Indian Foreign Minister, Pranab Mukherjee. Minister Mukherjee said, "The whole matter is under investigation, but it is the time that we must show our determination in the peace process which we have begun," while visiting the injured victims of the bomb-blasts at New Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital.

Such kind of terror attacks also took place in the past, seemingly in a deliberate motive to cause a significant negative impact on the peace prospect between the two nations. Plausibly, it seems that such motive of terrorists had worked in some extent regarding the breakage of the negotiation just near to the climax many a time in the past, which resulted due to the accusations made against each other by both the nations, for creating the havoc out of "conspiracy."

The recent commitment of both the nations for not to wreck the negotiation process, despite the sabotaging motive of the terrorists, is indeed a positive sign. But, at the same time, the suspicion towards each-other, like in the past, still seems to surface following the recent disaster. As the Indian home ministry blamed Pakistan's banned militant organizations and some parts of the Pakistani establishments blamed the hard-line Hindu organizations to have "acted" behind this bombing, critics say that this may be indirectly helping the terrorists' purpose of sabotaging the peace process.

It's not yet clear that whether the Muslim or Hindu extremists had perpetrated the attack, but its equally notable that whomever they may be, they don't favor any nation or religion, nor do they resemble any group of having any political significance, as they are the senseless killers of the innocents, who lack the sense of being the human beings themselves. So, as the leaders of both the nations have pledged recently to proceed with peace and trust among each-other, they must be firm on making a negotiated understanding to solve the dispute. If the leaders of the both countries cease to point fingers against each-other, this could discourage the evil motives of the terrorists, which may also deter such heinous attacks against the innocents to occur in the future.