Stop blaming India for Balochistan unrest without proof: Pak editorial

ISLAMABAD - An editorial in a leading Pakistani newspaper has said that while the country has alleged time and again that India has been involved in the Balochistan insurgency, it has no proof to support those accusations.

Pointing out that Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai also refused to buy claims that India was using Afghan territory to fan unrest in Balochistan, the Daily Times editorial said, “until some solid proof exists that corroborates these allegations, we should stop throwing such wild cards into the air.”

In the wake of Karzai’s two-day visit to Pakistan, the editorial also noted that “the fact that for too long now Pakistan has pursued the holy grail of strategic depth in Afghanistan has cast a long shadow of suspicion over any friendly overtures towards that unfortunate country by our state.”

Though both presidents announced a bolstering of intelligence sharing and more confidence between their respective security agencies, “it is hoped that finally action will follow the nice words if there is to be any peace and security in the region,” it said.

Zardari claimed that Pakistan wants to be part of the solution and not part of the “problem”, but “that is exactly where the deepest fissures in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s relations lie,” said the editorial.

Commenting on Karzai’s criticism of Pakistan for harbouring sanctuaries and training camps of the terrorists within its territorial limits, it said that Afghanistan had long blamed the ISI for funding and training the Afghan Taliban, and “in this bloody climate of terrorism, the formidable ISI has gained a schizophrenic reputation with many sources, both local and foreign, claiming that it is courting the Afghan Taliban whilst launching military campaigns against the Pakistani Taliban.”

Pointing out that dual policies could rarely ever work in the long run, it doubted that the ‘good Taliban, bad Taliban’ minuet would make any attempts at intelligence sharing extremely implausible, at least beyond the civilian level, and added that unfortunately, such fissures also existed between Pakistan and the US and NATO forces.

“There remain too many doubts on their side as to whom our intelligence agencies are supporting; how are we to believe that such suspicions will not exist on the Afghan side as well?” it added. (ANI)