You have to hand it to the Pakistanis for their capacity for denial. In the wake of last year’s terror assault on Mumbai–which was planned, launched, and directed from Pakistani soil–elements of the military and the government have gone out of their way to deflect blame and put the spotlight on India. Their latest attempt is nothing short of comical, or it would be if the situation inside Pakistan were not so dire. According to the Paksitani newspaper Dawn, a report on last month’s attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore indicates the Indians were behind the plot. The reason given, according to Dawn? “[N]o militant organizations Pakistan had the capacity to carry out the attack without the help of a state intelligence agency.” The report cites the weapons and communications network used in the attack point to state sponsorship. Keep in mind that this is a country that suffers from daily attacks from the Taliban, al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and a host of terror groups based on its soil, and where a vibrant and deadly insurgency in the Northwest Frontier Province has defeated the Paksitani military multiple times on the battlefield since 2004. Many of these groups use sophisticated weapons and communications network, ironically much of which is provided by elements with Pakistan’s military and intelligence service.
