Six months later

Indias effort to have Pakistan take preventive measures to stop its soil from being used to launch terrorist activities against India is not a matter that can be settled in a courtroom. Given the ease with which Saeed,for all practical purposes a kingpin in the banned Lashkar-e-Toiba,was allowed to walk free,the moment is right for India to take stock of the political/ diplomatic task ahead to have Pakistan held to its undertaking on cracking down on terrorists. By going ahead with the charade that a born-again Pakistani establishment would take on the guilty if given evidence,did New Delhi convert a broad political issue into a narrow legal one that allowed Pakistan many excuses? To term the legal evidence as insufficient,to conduct a lacklustre investigation,to hide behind technical grounds?

The wider context is cause for concern. Whatever little cooperation Pakistan offered post-26/11 was because of pressure then by the Bush administration; the new Obama administration has different views on the Af-Pak region. To compound matters for India,Pakistan has used its offensive in Swat and Waziristan to indicate to the Americans that having delivered on its western front,it must be given leeway on its east. Saeeds release as well as Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilanis fiery speech on Monday chastising Indias record on Kashmir are Pakistans attempts to test what it perceives as new waters. Pakistan must not be allowed to get away assuming that the US is providing it new latitude. India must unequivocally indicate to the Obama administration that Pakistan cannot de-link Americas war on terror from Indias,delivering for the Americans while blundering for the Indians. The onus on Pakistan in ridding its soil of terrorists is so high that it cant be allowed to walk away on technical grounds.