The military establishment and the ISI have been playing with fire that has "spread and arrived at their own doorstep", said a Pakistani daily Thursday, a day after a terror attack at a funeral near Peshawar left 36 people dead.
An editorial in the Daily Times Thursday said: "Although the bombings in Faisalabad and Adezai were conducted in two different areas, using different methods and for different reasons, they have been perpetrated by the same forces that want to destabilise Pakistan."
On Wednesday, 36 mourners gathered for the funeral of an anti-Taliban elder's wife were killed in a suicide bombing in Adezai village near Peshawar. The deadly blast follows Tuesday's car-bomb attack in the central city of Faisalabad that killed 25 people and wounded 125. Responsibility for that attack was claimed by the Taliban.
The editorial said that the Faisalabad attack took place near the office of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
"All this reminds us that that the military establishment and the ISI have been playing with fire for a long time and now that fire has spread and arrived at their own doorstep.
"‘Strategic assets’ created to secure dubious goals in Afghanistan are wreaking havoc in that country and also spilling the blood of Pakistanis. One might ask whose interests are these ‘assets’ securing if not the people of Pakistan, who foot the bill of all these adventures and then pay the additional cost of this treacherous game with their lives."
{{/usCountry}}"‘Strategic assets’ created to secure dubious goals in Afghanistan are wreaking havoc in that country and also spilling the blood of Pakistanis. One might ask whose interests are these ‘assets’ securing if not the people of Pakistan, who foot the bill of all these adventures and then pay the additional cost of this treacherous game with their lives."
{{/usCountry}}It strongly advised that "Pakistan’s security agencies will have to scotch the monster they have created, and the sooner they do this the better. Also, it would not be in the interest of the military itself to alienate peace lashkars created to fight against the same elements the military is fighting".
Stating that "the buck stops with the interior ministry, which is responsible for the country’s internal security", the editorial said: "(Interior Minister) Rehman Malik has miserably failed to devise and implement a credible and coordinated plan that would ensure that each head of the hydra of militancy is cut off."
"Despite his (Malik's) blatant failure, the federal government insists on retaining him at this post. It would be in the best interests of the country for someone more capable to be given the challenge and task of providing security to the citizens of Pakistan."