Sir — News about the powerful suicide blast at the Wagah border in Pakistan, which killed several innocents and left many injured, is a cause of worry for us in India. The fact that this incident occurred at Wagah minutes after the popular flag-lowering ceremony at the main India-Pak land-border crossing, should be a wake-up call to the authorities who have so far been sparing no effort at making the energetic pageantry that marks the formal closing of the border post, which soldiers from both countries have conducted for decades, a grand spectacle.
With Pakistan becoming a hotbed of international terrorism and a host of fundamentalist local outfits, an extremist activity of this magnitude would not have invited any special mention. For, such fanatic attacks are an everyday affair in Pakistan.
Nevertheless, that the Al-Qaeda-affiliated group had the audacity to carry out the strike at a hand-shaking distance from a border check post famous for the ‘congregation’ of tourists to relish the ‘ceremonial show of hostility’, doesn’t bode well for India.