Daily Times

It has been three years since Mumbai witnessed one of the worst forms of terrorism imaginable. On November 26, 2008, 10 terrorists allegedly from Pakistan hit several targets across the economic hub of India and extinguished 166 innocent lives in a 56-hour long siege. The incident saw condemnation being levelled on the international level at Pakistan, allegedly accused for carrying out the covert operation inside India’s territory. The incident halted the dialogue process between Pakistan and India, the two neighbouring countries, as the latter attached the resumption of dialogue with the condition that Pakistan brings the perpetrators of the attacks to justice.

Since 2008, India has shared several dossiers of evidence against the masterminds of 26/11 with Pakistan but to no avail. Although, the bilateral relations of the two countries have relaxed to a great extent since the two have agreed to normalise trade ties and composite dialogue, the insignificant progress of the Pakistan government against the terrorists behind the carnage has compelled the Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to repeat his country’s demand on the occasion of the third anniversary of the Mumbai attacks that Pakistan’s decisive action against the perpetrators is still awaited and that terrorism as an instrument of state policy has no place in today’s world. He said that the evidence given to Pakistan was enough “for any normal court” to prosecute the accused. However, the Pakistan government has found such proof insufficient to be used in a court of law against the alleged culprits who belong to the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. In fact, its political arm, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, is seen freely holding rallies in different parts of the country against the awarding of MFN status to India. Unfortunately, fearing a backlash by the militant group, Pakistan’s civilian government, which is not so powerful, has been dragging its feet over the issue. However, it is time that it muster up the courage and call a spade a spade by empowering the prosecution to prepare a strong case supported by proper evidence. The testament of David Headley in a US court provides a solid ground for prosecution.

The issue has already been delayed. Further delay in a concrete and decisive action in this regard will only disturb the relations of the two nuclear-armed countries. The two governments should immediately finalise the modalities involved in the visit of a Pakistani judicial commission to India to probe the key persons involved in 26/11. It is time that Pakistan engage with India in a sincere and fair manner. The recent normalisation in its bilateral relations with India should continue and, for that matter, it is important for both of them to close the bitter chapter of the past with a pledge to discourage and fight terrorism in all its forms. *