You done it again! Pakistan

Pakistan has once again been made to come hard against suspected militants. This is not the first time. Big, dramatic and disasterous events outside the country have in the past too forced the governments to arrest some suspects, only to quietly release them later, bolstering critics who claim Islamabad is not serious about fighting extremists.

Now Pakistani Prime Minister has confirmed arrest of Zarar Shah and Zaki Lakhvi. They are accused by India of masterminding the Mumbai attacks that killed over 180 people. But my question is why such arrests have to materialise only when something bad, in fact in this case very bad has happened. Why can't we keep our own house in order? Why we have to act only when international pressure becomes unbearable or the threat of a war is dangerously close to reality?

While claiming to have launched its own investigations into the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan has asked India to provide hard eveidence against these suspects. Well if you don't have hard evidence then on which basis are you going after them and arresting them? Have you found an eveidence against them on your own. If that's true then you need to proceed against them without waiting for the Indian reply.

The Pakistani leadership has swung into action after initially denying the attacks had anything to do with Pakistan. Both the president and the prime minister have made it clear they would not hand them over these suspects to India and bring them to justice inside the country. Well, if we have examples of Khalid Shiekh Mohammad and Aimal Kansi, on what ground can we deny the same facility to India. Many believe this can change too if the Indians are clever enough to play their cards well.