Mumbai blasts conspiracy to sabotage dialogue: Pakistani papers

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The serial bomb blasts in Mumbai on Wednesday bring back disturbing memories of the 2008 terror attack and seem to have the same purpose - sabotaging the ongoing efforts of India and Pakistan to restore cordial ties, leading Pakistani papers have said.

In editorials on Friday, English daily Dawn and Urdu daily Jang urged the governments of both countries to show restraint and cooperate to frustrate the nefarious designs of those who want to drive a wedge between them and plunge the region into an atmosphere of conflict, not cooperation.

"Wednesday's bomb blasts in the Indian financial hub of Mumbai brought back disturbing memories of 2008's audacious terrorist attacks, in which militants held the city hostage for nearly four days," the editorial in the Dawn said.

The Jang said the attacks, which left 18 people dead and over 130 injured, were carried out 'in the same areas where armed men had carried out a murderous rampage for 60 hours and left 166 dead'.

Both questioned the timing of the attacks, coming a few days before the foreign ministers of both the countries are due to meet in New Delhi.

The foreign ministers of both countries are due to meet in the coming weeks and it should be ensured 'the meeting is unaffected and the peace process not derailed. Any setback would only work to the advantage of extremists on both sides', said the Dawn.

The Jang also noted that the November 26, 2008 attacks had taken place when the then Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was in India to meet his counterpart.

"While no group or organisation has taken responsibility for the blasts, it cannot be co-incidental that they occurred a few days before the planned meeting of the foreign ministers, and shows the intent of the perpetrators to sabotage the India-Pakistan peace dialogue," it said.

The Dawn editorial said that it was 'welcome that India has not rushed to blame Pakistan for the attack, while both the Pakistan president and prime minister swiftly condemned the blasts'.

It said that both governments 'must show restraint, channelling their energies towards fighting terrorism together'.

"If credible links are indeed found to non-state actors in Pakistan - though there is no evidence of this at the moment - the Pakistani authorities must take action against the quarters concerned."

The Jang also noted that 26/11 had poisoned relations between the two countries and almost taken the region 'to the very edge of a bloody abyss', from which it took a long time to come back.

"Now when India and Pakistan have built anew an atmosphere of trust and resumed dialogue, so the enemies of peace and prosperity have a new opportunity to wreck a meeting, from which something good is expected. The wise, reasonable and peace-loving circles in both neighbours must work together to counter such forces," it said.