At least 78 people have been killed in Afghanistan over the last 24 hours. Attacks, targeting Shia mourners in Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif killed 59 people on Tuesday, while another 19 civilians were killed in Helmand province on Wednesday.
The attacks have been said to incite sectarian violence in Afghanistan. Security officials in Afghanistan have blamed Pakistan for the attacks, saying that militant groups from across the border orchestrated these attacks.
While no proofs have yet been found to indicate any links to Pakistan, Afghan officials have been quick to lay the blame on Pakistan.
Is Afghanistan right in blaming Pakistan for the attacks without any proof? With reference to the Bonn conference and Afghan security being the main talking point, shouldn’t Afghanistan and Pakistan be strengthening their relationship instead of playing the blame game?
Dawn.com invites its readers to give their views and suggestions.
agree with jalaal ahmad
I am glad U.S. froze $700 million for Pakistan. I am sure many Pakistani with self esteem is also glad and do not want even to touch those money. Pakistan need to forget about all AIDS and depend on the strength of their own country. Pakistan is not a poor country by any means. She does have some oil and gas, Copper and many other minerals. Plus Pakistan also have huge agriculture lands that can feed billion people with advance agriculture technology.
New democratically elected politicians must compel the middle class to rich Pakistanis to pay tax, cut defense expenses and improve relationship with India and Afghanistan on a bilateral basis. Another area is taking huge tract of land from Jagirdars and distribute to the farmers who till the land.
Any cuts comes from military should go to education sector in rural areas of Sarhad and Baluchistan. Pakistan should also look for hidden funds of the military brass in foreign banks and take control of those accounts and spend those money for the poor of Pakistan.
It is disgusting to note: during last two terms when Mrs. Bhutto was in power she did not had any success in parliament in terms of any landmark bill that was passed including any bill related to women right in Pakistan.
I pray this Parliament is not turn out to be a rubber stamp for the crooks, Landlords and the Rich. It was unfortunate this Parliament pass a law that pardon all the robbers, politicians, military and Bureaucrats who stole billions over the past 25 years.
Shame.
Peaceful processions being harmed during Ashura is a serious offense. Such people should receive capital sentence to discourage and eradicate these issues.
The problem lies in investigating and providing proof of who was the culprit. It is close to impossible to do so when the countries are in a chaos of war.
Dear Pakistanis,
Isnt Haqqani network operating out of North Wazristan which is part of Pakistan. Why is this living in denial ??????????
Looking forward to answers….
Yash
haqqani network has denied the attack and doing such an attack is against their own strageties and will be a blow for their insurgency operations. they dont want to loss the little support they have.
isnt afghnaistan a ground for pakistani taliban
all important pakistani taliban are sitting in afghnistan when there are over 100,000 foreign troops. why are they living in denial.
things arent so simple and easy.
if north wazristan is only place where militant are then i think the us should deploy enough troops to block the boarder there.
Get rid of all conspiracy theorists in Pak to have a clear vision and bright future. It’s applicable to other countries as well but Pak in more serious way.
There is no point in blaming Pakistani’s as they have never accepted the proven facts about there deed’s so there is no hope that they will accept this act. I have very little hope that they will change there attitude in future because they are people “IN DENIAL”.
Pakistani parliament need to be in session 24 hours a day, 7 days a week until Pakistan is in strong position with strong civilian government. When MNA’s are sleeping they should be represented at the chamber to take notes etc. If Pakistan wants democracy, rule of laws and rule by people’s representatives than they need to put their act together.
They need to show all other non elected power hungry institution that, it is the people who is the boss. I know it sounds drastic. True, but something very drastic is needed to at this time to navigate the country from this state of disaster that is confronting Pakistan.
What happened to my beloved Pakistan of 1960s? Punjab, Bangal, Sind, Baluchistan and Sarhad, all united happy and prospering. I remember going to Chitagong and enjoying most beautiful grenary and natural ecology that abounds all over. Peace was there and everybody was happy even in those days we did not have had so many material things.
Than came these lune-tune political parties and their struggle for power from military-bureaucratic regimes. This rivalry cut Pakistan into half, our Bangale brothers left us because of our own deeds there. Thanks to Politician Mr. Bhutoo and general Yahya’s blunders herein. Than started to come Saudi charity money in Pakistan to establish Madrassas in Pakistan to develop fanatics while world was after IT technology, settelite and bio-technology to take the world to next step.
Now my beloved but wounded Pakistan calling for a strong progressive leader to navigate her at this critical moment of history. Looks like none is there. Its going to be same slogan, Islam is finish, Sunnis say kill the shias, Shias says kill the Sunnis, kill this and that and start Jihad, jihad and jihad.
That we always forget that group, who is taking all that money from the C.I.A. and the west, Hiding in foreign banks, inciting violence to blackmail America and the west and still wants power to run the country. Problem is not them, Problem is Pakistani voters….Why do you vote for all these political leaders, some even don’t know how to read or write?
The good old days when the people lived with very little but was more joyful even ready to share.
Yes this was also the time of 1947 when we all hindus/muslims/christians/Sikhs/Budhists etc
were dreaming of a peaceful friendly society, a land of us called India. But it was shattered and
destroyed by self styled politicians as well so called religious leaders to divide us, and the result
was only bloodshed and looting of poor, helped by west, which the price is paid by new generation.
Unfortunately Pakistan has painted itself in corner. Nobody trusts Pakistan anymore. Look at how Pakistan has acted after Bin laden was found 1 km away from its army head quarters. Ay country worth its salt would do serious introspection and bring about significant changes. But what does Pakistan do? It thinks it is a sovereignity violation, off course it is, but what about bin laden within a km of its army headquarters?? What does it mean? You don’t have to be a genius to conclude what’s cooking here. Thanks
Almost all the indians raise their finger towards Pakistan in any case to hate, but they are not aware of the direction of their remaining three fingers.
Its been repeatedly quoted that laden was found 1 kim from Army HQ… Please note that it was Army cedits academy not the HQ. HQ is not in Abbotabad…
Nren, it was not Pakistan Army HQ rather in a 5 miles radius of American Airbase in Pakistan.
Hi Mushtaq,
My brother i did not get your point…you mean to say that within 5 miles radius of American Airbase helped them to find Bin Laden….Put your hand on heart and tell the truth..dont you think without involvement of state establishment Bin Laden would have lived there?
Guys please let me know your comment I just would like to make sure that you agree with my point
Who else can be blamed for all the mess the entire world is going through when it comes to terrorisim? PAkistanis will deny but the world already knows it. Hope the knowledgeable Pakistanis get a voice someday and rise above the fear of beeing blames ani-pakistan.
There are many neighbors for Afghanistan.
Why is Pakistan being singled out, not just by Afghanistan, but many other nations also ?
If only one neighbour blame then she could be wrong but when most of neighbours blame then there is something wrong with us. Accepting our fault is also a step in right direction
well said..buddy
Is it only Afganisthan thats blaming Pakistan? Last i heard, all countries having borders with Pakistan complaining. India complains, Afganisthan complains, Iran complains, USA complains, UK complains. Are all these countries wrong?????
The framing of the question for voting is wrong, since you have already loaded it with “without proof”. As regards proof, it is of no use as far as Pakistan is concerned. Remember Bombay carnage perpetrated by Pakistani state actors and actions taken by the Pakistani government!!!!.
This blast and IED tactics is only confine to CIA,they always restored to create hatred amongst the sects.The IRAQI are blast are also going on the same patron.Before USA was sponsoring same tactics in BELFAST and SAUDI ARABIA to pressurize UK and KSA.The only serious threat to USA is from shia sect.
Well, that was crazy.
I think whoever did this to people of Afghanistan first met to the afghani president at his home thatswhy he is so sure this the work pf pakistani people Mr karzy dont forget if you are the president because its the Pakistan who take you to this post
The blame was first published in an article in CNN and latter on Karzai gave the statement. it is an embarrassing act by the president being leading the war torn country. The peace that he is looking for his country cannot be obtain by blaming neighbors.
A spotlight is needed on the Afghanistani conspiracy theories and habit of blaming ISI. No different than the Pakistanis blaming Afghanistani intelligtence agencies, NA, CIA, RAW, etc. There’s probably a little bit of truth to all these assertions by all sides. Will anything happen besides rhetoric? No.
We should all ask this question. Who has anything to gain from this incident in Afghanistan? Its not any radical element like LeJ or others for certain though its not to say that they are not extremists but these elements have nothing to gain from this really. Could it be the West? Very likely it is. They have everything to gain from this, after all this is what they are trying to convince everyone of what’s happening and much to their surprise and desperation they have’nt been successful in turning Muslims against Muslims even after 10 years of occupation. The credit should go to people of that region(Pakistan and Afghanistan)to not to fall for any such plot to turn Muslims against each other regardless of if they are shia or sunni or any other sect, they are Muslims first.
I think we have a much bigger problem. The problem is with various governments. Now let us look at Pakistan. I know this is out of context but I wan to say to all Indians and Pakistanis that just by despising other countries every act, you do not show patriotism. You can only show patriotism by contributing to the development of your country.
When does this blame game end ? Pakistanis themselves blame RAW and India for everything happening from world cup loss to match fixing scandal. Once I noticed in a blog site that it was alleged that RAW had a hand in rains not falling in Pakistan. In India also, a blame campaign similarly runs. Let me tell you guys that International politics is much more than what we see and hear in media. In fact media doesn’t even give 30% of the picture of what is happening. This is true everywhere.
This blaming game is not new and we, as a country have done not much to redress the situation. We have religious leaders who do not condemn suicide attacks of any form. Our government has always been busy making money at the expense of the country. So why should we blame anybody else . we should first blame oursleves.
having said that we should also realize that it is in the interest of Us, India and others to keep Pakistan on the defensive so that they can get the maximum concessions from us. they also want Pakistan in disarray and turmoil so that we keep asking them for help and money. Come on guys, Pakistan Taliban are based in Afghanistan and they keep attacking us . who is financing them?. can they really survive in Afghanistan without US support. No gorilla/terrorist organization can survive without money and base. Pakistan should pursue this issue aggressively ..
Afghanistan may be right in blaming Pakistan for this most shameful terrorist attack on shias. Started in the darkest period of Pakistan history during Zia-ul-Huq government, religious terrorism and extremism is now a force which can not be defeated in Pakistan easily. Various governments, army and political parties since decades have supported these religious terrorists for their own selfish motives and now this monster has become so strong that it is now completely out of their control. These religious and extremist gangs are responsible for killing thousands of people in Pakistan and its neighboring countries.
The solution to make Pakistan a civilized and progressive country is:
To outright ban all such groups and religious political parties.
Leaders of such political parties must not be allowed to participate in elections.
TV channels and news media which encourage religious intolerance and hatred should be fined heavily and strict actions should be taken against their management.
All Mullahs and Muftis should be warned strongly against spreading hatred through their fatwas and sermons.
Until these actions are not taken, these religious gangs will keep on killing innocent people in Pakistan and abroad and our neighbors India, Afghanistan and Iran will have no choice but to blame us for such tragedies.
Well said. I think time window is very … very short for Pakistan to act for its own good. I think Pakistan has survived because of its very decent citizens, like yourself. They have spread far and wide and created very good impression. But all that will be washed away if there is no serious introspection, action & utmost co-operation, particularly with neighbors like India & Afghanistan. Just like decent Pakistanis, India & Afghanistan have been very mature & decent in its reaction, but there is limit to tolerance of these terrorist groups. If Pakistan does not act someone surely will. Is it worth the prize, that’s what needs serious introspection by pakistani establishments. Hope common sense & decency prevails. Thanks
As usual–Where is the proof, right?
With all due respect to the good people of Pakistan ( pls read people and not the govt. or the pk army or isi )
I have lot of good friends in PK and always wish well of them and their nice families and friends.
Now, any act of terrorism that happens in India or Afghanistan will naturally bring PK to mind first thing.
How much so every PK may deny.
OBL is in PK was widely denied by any and every PK official, be it Musharraf or anyone else. Ultimately he was found in PK.
MUMBAI attack was initially not accepted by PK that it originated from their soil. Now everyone knows the truth.
So it is but obvious that first the finger will be pointed to PK.
Lot of terror attacks have happened in PK too and once again the origin is from within Ur own land.
So without proof anyone shall initially point finger at PK itself.
I think it’s not the karzai but actually America who incites the kabul to blame pakistan from each corner to press them to do more…..Pakistan should take tough stance on karzai remarks and should respond in same language,,