• There are several ways in which the impact and immediate outcome of the Panipat tragedy are different from similar acts of terrorism committed earlier. Unlike what happened immediately after the Bombay train blasts in July last year, no responsible person in the Indian government has pointed fingers at “Pakistan-based terrorist groups” for the crime... Secondly, we now have in place an Indo-Pakistan “anti-terrorism mechanism” to which President Musharraf and Prime Minister Singh agreed at Havana last year... The existence of such an instrument obviously irks those in India who blame Pakistan for every act of terrorism even before investigations begin. There is no doubt that the two sides will jointly investigate a crime that has shocked the world. There are extremists and hate groups on both sides of the border, and they would love to derail the peace process. However, the two governments must know that the scourge of terrorism now seems to be operating on a scale that, if left unchecked, could make a mockery of not only the peace process but everything else meant to promote harmony and understanding between Pakistan and India.

—Dawn

• Looking at the pattern of travel on the special train, one can say that Pakistani families travel more often to India than those of Indian Muslims to Pakistan. One can therefore assume that whoever sabotaged the train knew that only Muslims would die and most of them would be Pakistanis. Does that mean that this dastardly act could not have been perpetrated by Muslims? No, it doesn’t. On the contrary, in fact, on recent record, one is almost reluctant to accuse anyone but Muslim terrorists for this act... India has lately been victim of sabotage and terrorism, but the trend is more associated with Pakistan than with India. Just as the Indians accuse some lashkar or the other every time there is a blast in India, we used to accuse India whenever there was an explosion on our side, until, of course, our noses were rubbed in the evidence that it was our own jihadis who were doing it... Some opposition politicians and the jihadi elements have openly accused President General Pervez Musharraf of having betrayed the Kashmir cause by trying to normalise relations with India. The culprits can be narrowed down further. It could be someone who hates General Musharraf more than he loves fellow Muslims... Why wasn’t the deed done in Pakistan? Simply because then the finger would have pointed to Pakistanis inside Pakistan... Let us keep our fingers crossed and pray it is not a Pakistan-linked terrorist organisation that has killed people going to India to meet their relatives.

... contd.