Islamabad: A year after the terrorist
attacks in Mumbai that killed nearly 180 people, most
Pakistanis have little or nothing to say about the carnage
that shook India.
Leading newspapers were silent on the tragedy and so
were Pakistanis who are active in the virtual world.
Except for an odd comment on social networking
website Facebook, most Pakistanis were unusually quiet.
"Remembering the victims of 26/11," read a comment by
journalist Mehmal Sarfraz on her homepage. Though the comment
was welcomed by her Indian friends, her fellow citizens were
not exactly happy.
"With all due respect, so many more people die in our
own country every day. How many people remember the victims of
Peshawar? That has been burning much more and much worse than
Mumbai did.
For a minute I think people need to stop blowing
26/11 out of proportion. How is it that we don't pay as much
tribute to the victims of the war against militancy in
Pakistan," commented Qudsia Aziz Rana.
Rana’s comment seemed to sum up the mood of most
Pakistanis, who do not want India to blame their country for
the attacks.
"Stop blaming Pakistan for every attack! If few
people are bad that doesn't mean the whole country is bad! It
is not that Pakistan is supporting terrorism.
Pakistan is also a victim of it." reads a post by
Mujtaba Husain, the creator of "Pakistan against Terrorism"
group. Not a word on the Mumbai attacks was posted by
cyber-buffs active in the blogosphere.
Popular ezines Pakteahouse and Pakistaniat did not
have any posts dedicated to Mumbai’s victims. There was,
however, a post about the "Indian hand" in Pakistan.
"… a near consensus has been reached by all the major
political parties in Pakistan, except the MQM, that India is
aiding the Taliban in Swat and Waziristan," said a post on a
popular blog.
Not long ago, a local TV channel did a spoof
interview with Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist arrested
by Indian authorities for the Mumbai attacks.
In the spoof, Kasab shows up in the studios with an
AK-47, shoots staffers and aims his gun at the anchor too.
He is shown wearing a red thread on his wrist and
speaks with a Hyderabadi accent, all of which the anchor
contends shows that he is "not Pakistani"! Islamabad has
acknowledged in a dossier handed over to New Delhi that the
Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba carried out the Mumbai attacks.
An anti-terror court in Rawalpindi yesterday indicted
seven suspects, including LeT operations commander Zakiur
Rehman Lakhvi, for planning and helping execute the attacks.
All the accused pleaded not guilty.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, November 26, 2009, 21:50