28 Nov 2008
PARIS - The carnage wreaked by Islamic militants in Mumbai has cemented South Asias status as the most dangerous place on earth, the worlds media said Friday, urging India not to rush to blame Pakistan.
While domestic newspapers lashed the government over the intelligence lapses which led to the attacks, the international press cautioned that any response must not further destabilise the region.
The Terrorist Escalation, said the front-page headline of Frances left-leaning Liberation, whose editorial spoke of an arc of crisis that stretches across South Asia, the most dangerous region in the world.
Spains El Pais daily said while it was tempting for India to blame its arch rival Pakistan for its worst nightmare, the attacks appeared to be symptomatic of a wider malaise in the region.
Everything suggests that India, which is used to fighting local separatists and guerrillas, is facing its own Islamic terrorism, said the top-selling daily.
Indias Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday that preliminary information pointed to some elements in Pakistan being responsible for the attacks which have left at least 130 people dead.
However Britains left-leaning Guardian newspaper said the attacks must not derail recent moves to put troubled Indian-Pakistan ties back on track.
India, naturally shaken by the slaughter of its civilians, must not allow the rapprochement with Pakistan to be derailed, for this is exactly what the militants want, it said.
The governments of India and Pakistan will need to strain every sinew to stay on the path of detente.
Papers in the Arab world also urged India not to play into the hands of extremists with its reaction.
It (India) has proved time and again that its democratic principles of tolerance are deeply rooted, said the Dubai-based Gulf News.
Many religious extremists would like to stop this, but India has remained true to its liberal and secular self.
In Pakistan itself, the local English-language daily The News led with the headline, India gives Pakistan a dirty look.
Indian intelligence, under fire for failing to pick up on the threat, is anxious to lay blame elsewhere, the newspaper said.
The countrys influential English-language daily Dawn also urged New Delhi and Islamabad to cooperate in investigations without apportioning blame.
Indias newspapers meanwhile focused on the failures which allowed the militants to strike at the heart of the countrys financial capital without warning.
The Mail Today said the countrys intelligence agencies had no clue of the impending attack despite huge spending on anti-terror measures.
The Times of India questioned why intelligence agencies had failed.
How well do we run them, how well-resourced are they, and is there proper coordination among them to maximise and collate information? it demanded.
What are the intelligence mechanisms that failed to pick up a terrorist plan with as much micro-planning as this one? The Indian Express demanded.
The New York-based Wall Street Journal blamed Indias leaders for making the country an easy target.
Its intelligence units are understaffed and lack resources. Coordination among the countrys 28 state police forces is poor. The countrys anti-terror legal architecture is also inadequate, it said.
A lack of political leadership is to blame, it concluded.
Under the banner headline Massacre in Mumbai, the Sydney Morning Herald also described Mumbai as a soft target.
It said the nature of the attacks and the singling out of US and British nationals suggested a wider agenda than usual militant attacks in India.
Japans Asahi Shimbun described the attacks as nothing but an intolerable act of brutality, while the Yomiuri Shimbun voiced concern that the bloodshed in the Indian financial capital could affect Japans relations with India.
The Nikkei business daily said security concerns could block investment of foreign capital and slow down the Indian economy further.
All major Chinese dailies carried front page reports on the attacks.
The Beijing News in a commentary blamed the Indian government for being slow to react to events. Faced with the growing menace of terrorism, Indias anti-terrorism measures are lagging behind, the commentary said.