ISLAMABAD: Reactions of Pakistanis to the Indian accusation that their country was involved in the Mumbai bomb blasts are a mix of anger, incredulity, déjà vu, and a sense that the two countries have missed the peace boat once again, as well as the hope that they can still catch it.

But first, everyone wants to see the evidence for the Indian accusation.

Shireen Mazhari, director-general of the Foreign Ministry's influential Institute of Strategic Studies, said it was "ridiculous" that India was finger-pointing without evidence.

"What is to prevent Pakistan from saying India was involved in the suicide attack in Karachi," she asked, referring to the killing of a prominent Shia cleric by a suicide bomber in the southern city on Friday.

Ms. Mazhari noted that India had "not expressed a word of regret" at the killing.

The former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence, Hamid Gul also wanted India to produce "hard evidence" for its accusations.

He said Pakistan had banned the Lashkar-e-Taiba in 2002.

On `watch list'

"There is no Lashkar here. Yes, they changed their name and now call themselves Jamaat-ud-Daawa, but it is purely a non-governmental organisation," Mr. Gul said.

Pakistan has put the JuD on a "watch list," but has allowed the group to function especially after the 2005 earthquake when it was engaged in relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation work in the devastated region.

In April, when the United States put the JuD on its Specially Designated Global Terrorist List, Pakistan said Washington had taken the action under domestic law and that this did not oblige Islamabad to outlaw the group.

The former intelligence chief, a strong critic of the Musharraf regime for taking action against religious extremist groups under U.S. pressure, said the JuD had done "tremendous work" in quake hit areas and banning it would be "unacceptable" in Pakistan.

The former chief of Military Intelligence, Asad Durrani said if India was convinced that Pakistan had a hand in the bomb blasts, it should take seriously General Musharraf's offer of help in the investigations.

Even before the bomb blasts, most analysts in Pakistan saw the peace process as having delivered little by way of substance. They complained that the confidence-building measures India pushed, saying these would improve the atmosphere for dispute resolution, turned into ends in themselves, and that there was no progress on substantive issues. Now they predict that the situation could "worsen." "The composite dialogue process was already dead. Since both sides are committed to the peace process and are deeply involved in it for several reasons — internal and international — I think attempts will be made to save the process from breakdown. There will be no formal pronouncement of its demise, but from now on, I think it will become more a ceremonial exercise than a substantive one," said Mr. Khalid Mahmood, an India specialist at the Institute of Regional Studies.

`The old style returning'

He said the Indian accusation was reminiscent of the pre-peace process years. "From the beginning of this peace process, both countries have been cautious about hasty allegation swapping. But the old style is coming back."

An opinion is building that India, after having got its way with the confidence-building measures, is using the Mumbai blasts as a pretext for not getting down to the more serious business of tackling the disputes.

"India is playing its usual histrionics against Pakistan. This shows the Indian government has decided to use this as a pretext to blast Pakistan. It shows they are not serious about conflict resolution," said Ms. Mazhari.

After India's allegation, it was time for Pakistan to put the brakes on the peace process "to take stock," she said.

"If India is going to play its old game, all right, maybe it is time for Pakistan too to take a step back. Let's scale down the people-to-people contacts, the confidence building measures, let's see if the Indians can show us they are serious about conflict resolution," she said.

The former ISI chief was more blunt. "Pakistan has got damn-all from the peace process. Let India accuse us. It gives us an advantage. We will turn around and say that we tried our best, but on very flimsy grounds, India has derailed the peace process," said Mr. Gul.

Others were more cautious but said the present crisis between the two countries was the result of mistrust, and showed up the absence of "real progress" in the peace process.

Talat Masood, who heads the international conflict resolution group Pugwash, said that for the peace process to succeed, both sides had to show more accommodation towards each other. The process lacked trust, but that could be built only if there was progress in resolving the substantive issues.

Mr. Durrani said certain forces in both countries were trying to wreck the peace process, and for this reason, if both began placing conditions for progress, such as "Kashmir here and terrorism there," the "peace process would be dead on arrival." Striking a hopeful note, he said the basic framework of the peace process was good and might see the process through this crisis.

"Trust is very important but it also has to evolve. First there has to be confidence in order to build trust. But it cannot be confidence tomorrow and trust the day after. My faith has not been shaken in the process because I have no doubts about the soundness of the process," Mr. Durrani said.

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