In The News, Farrukh Saleem, attributes the failure of India’s surveillance agencies to their constant glare on Pakistan-based terror outfits : “The Research and Analysis Wing of the cabinet secretariat has failed miserably. So have the Intelligence Bureau, the Defence Intelligence Agency, the Joint Intelligence Committee, the Directorate of Air Intelligence, the Directorate of Navy Intelligence, the Joint Cipher Bureau, the Directorate of Signals Intelligence and the Defence Image Processing and Analysis Centre. All of India’s intelligence agencies have failed and the most critical element in their collective failure is their overwhelming focus on Pakistan-based militant groups. So intense has been this focus that India’s home-grown militant entities have spread like wildfire all through India’s 2,973,190 sq km of land mass. Who’s behind Mumbai attacks? Is it India’s left-wing extremists, separatists or India’s home-grown Jihadi militants?”

Simultaneously, remedial measures are also being suggested for weeding out these outfits from Pakistani soil. Dawn opines: “There is need for confidence building between the two countries. But even a symbolic cut in defence spending on both sides of the border would be a welcome step, for it will herald a move towards addressing the major underlying causes of terrorism: poverty and illiteracy.” Dawn also carried Pakistan Defence Minister Ahmed Mukthar’s remarks that “Pakistan had played no role in terrorist attacks in Mumbai.