Pakistan and India

When terror attacks occur in India, fingers are often pointed west to Pakistan. The countries have fought three wars since their independence from British colonial rule in 1947 and two of them involved Kashmir. Today, India’s Prime Minister blamed foreigners as responsible for yesterday’s terror attacks in Mumbai. This analyst says relations between the two countries could survive the terror attacks this time. He says there have been a series of confidence building measures over the past two years. Tragically, terrorism is part of the confidence building measures, but both countries have pledged to cooperate more on counter-terrorism efforts. This Pakistani minister yesterday warned against jumping to conclusions as to who is responsible for the attacks in Mumbai. The coordination of the attacks in Mumbai suggest they were perpetrated by a well funded and organized group and most likely, says this analyst, a group with bases in India. But he says there’s also the possibility that the group is related to the clash over Kashmir, and that could derail the peace process between India and Kashmir. At this point though, it’s difficult to assess exactly what the fall out might be.