{EOP}Why Delhi Refuses to Take Action Against the Indian Army for Blowing up Samjhota Express

There is a clear parity between the terror against Bharatis in Mumbai and the terror against Pakistanis on the Samjhota Express. In fact the attack ont he Samjhota Express was more egregious, as it was the official communications link between Bharat and Pakistan. What makes the train bombing worse is the face that a sitting colonel of the Bharati Army was fully involved in the attack, and he used Indian Armyissued plastique explosives to kill and murder. Colonel Prohit of the Indian Army when he went to court was dressed in full Saffron regalia egged on by a crowd of the Hindumahasabah.

On the eve of the talks between the Bharati Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir,Islamabad on Saturday once again criticized Bharat’s handling of the Samjhauta Express train bombing with stinging criticism of Delhi saying that it lacked “courage to unearth culpability of Hindu extremists”.

Samjhauta Express blast dampens Delhi’s holier than thou attitude and placed Bharat on the backfoot in preparation for  Sunday’s meeting  in Thimphu.

“India seems to be lacking courage to unearth culpability of Hindu extremists and their links with some Indian Army personnel,” foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit said in a statement in Islamabad. India’s handling of the 2007Samjhauta Express bombing case “doesn’t inspire much hope”, he said.

The brilliant Basit in his usual eloquence emphasised that India “needs to bridge the gap between what it says and what it does”.He correctly stated that  in the case of the Samjhota Express the attacks the leads were blatent and involvement so clear that the evidence was irrefutable.

Bharat has tried to hedge and point fingures–but the fact remains that Prohit and gang committed the acts of terror and the Bharati Army was caught with its pants down trying to cover it up.

Pakistan is expected to raise the issue of Samjhauta probe at Sunday’s meeting. Pakistan will definitely raise the Kashmir issue. This was the pre-condition for the talks. No talks without Kashmir on the agenda.  Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is willing to discuss all outstanding issues with Pakistan in a step-by-step manner.

Neither Pakistan, nor Pakistanis expect much from the talks–which are considered a ‘fools errand”.