Saturday, May 17, 2008

Terror, Tensions in India Endanger Pakistan's Experiment


By J. Sri Raman
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Friday 16 May 2008

A 12-hour encounter between a group of militants and security forces left eight persons dead in the Samba sector of the India-administered State of Jammu and Kashmir on May 11. Earlier, heavy firing across the India-Pakistan Line of Control had been reported from the same area, fortunately without any casualty figures.

On May 13, a series of seven bomb blasts shook the crowded and colorful city of Jaipur, capital of India's State of Rajasthan, taking an immediate toll of at least 60 lives and leaving hundreds injured. The victims included members of all communities and many children. The firings and the blasts across the border are fraught with graver and more far-reaching consequences for Pakistan's fledgling democracy than the issue of judges hogging the headlines for quite some time now.

There, of course, is no denying the importance of the issue threatening the unity of the coalition thrown up by the democratic process in the country after eight long years of military dictatorship. Ministers representing the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) have rendered their resignations from Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani's government over the issue. The protracted talks between former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan People's Party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari in Pakistan, Dubai and London have failed to find an agreed way to implement the Murree Declaration of March 9, envisaging reinstatement of former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and other judges sacked by a fiat of Pervez Musharraf in his days of unchecked power.

Continued . . .

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