Pak must weed out its ’strategic asset’ extremist groups for survival: Editorial

ISLAMABAD - Friday’s serial bomb blasts in Lahore was the second terrorist strike in the city within a week which clearly suggests that claims regarding inflicting a body blow to extremists organisations breeding on the country’s soil were premature.

Soon after militants struck in Lahore, the city’s top police official, in a knee-jerk reaction, blamed India for the bomb blasts , which were neither supported by any evidence nor had an iota of truth in them.

It is time Pakistan stops blaming others for the mess created by its own people, an editorial in one the country’s leading English dailies said.

“The enemy is here and has struck again and again, and our only hope of survival lies in driving the monster out before it is too late to do so,” The News editorial said.

It said that until Pakistan acts tough against militants thriving in terror safe havens situated inside the country’s boundaries, there is no possibility of peace returning to the nation and people would continue to suffer the way they are at present.

“Somehow we have to stop this horror. The stains of blood that have coloured countless streets must fade away forever. Until this happens we, as a nation, will know no peace,” editorial said.

It also pointed out that it is imperative for Pakistan to act against extremist groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which it considers as its ’strategic assests’.

“Pakistan may not have been willing to take out its ’strategic assets’, but circumstances are increasingly compelling it to concede that if it does not, then these ‘assets’ will definitely ake out the state and society of Pakistan,” the editorial concluded. (ANI)