'This is in its own interest.'
'Only the State must have the monopoly of power in the country.'
'Militias have no place in democracies,' says Shuja Nawaz, Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council, the Washington, DC-based think-tank.
So long as Kashmir remains afflicted by unrest, especially among its youth, it will continue to be the tinder for flash fires internally as well as between India and Pakistan.
If it is correct that the suicide bomber was a local recruit, then it does not bode well for either country.
Pakistan needs to better implement its national action plan against terrorism to more effectively de-weaponise groups that act as franchisees of larger terrorist organisations like Al Qaeda and ISIS, and operate across national boundaries.
India needs to alter the landscape that fosters unrest and violent reactions to its massive military presence in Kashmir. Both countries have failed to seal their border in Kashmir.
This latest sad incident of violence has been condemned by the Pakistani State. But it has become fodder for escalating the rhetoric against Pakistan by the Indian authorities in the middle of a heated political season.
It does not suit either side for their Cold War to escalate into a hot one.
Prime Minister Imran Khan's instincts on India lean toward reconciliation and open trade. India needs to reciprocate in order to create more powerful vested political groups inside both countries in favour of trade and peace.
Initial signals from India have been negative. Is it because if the elections? I hope not. They must talk with each other, not at each other.
Pakistan needs to take firm actions against the banned JeM and its leadership. This is in its own interest.
Only the State must have the monopoly of power in the country. Militias have no place in democracies.
India seems bent on trying to isolate Pakistan. It cannot remove Pakistan from its geography.
This latest tragedy could be the springboard for joint efforts to control and end violence and to begin benefiting from economic and people to people exchanges.
This is a delicate time and we must not fall back on our prejudices or fan the base fears and anger.
Rather, we need to see why we got here. Both sides have a role to play.
Shuja Nawaz is a Distinguished Fellow, South Asia Center, Atlantic Council. Washington DC. He is the author of Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within, an authoritative study of the Pakistan army. His brother General Asif Nawaz Janjua, Pakistan's then army chief, died suddenly and mysteriously in January 1993.
