MEDIA REACTION: INDIA-PAKISTAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 NEW DELHI 003084

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E.O. 12958:N/A
TAGS: KMDR KPAO PGOV PREL IN
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: INDIA-PAKISTAN
RELATIONS/TERRORISM, SECRETARY RICE VISIT TO INDIA AND
PAKISTAN; NEW DELHI-DECEMBER 6-8, 2008.

This cable reports on relevant media reaction from
India's large non-English press. Embassy New Delhi
reports on English-language media via email in the daily
"Early Edition." USG customers please write to Geeta
Krishali (KrishaliG@state.gov) to subscribe to the "Early
Edition."

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INDIA-PAKISTAN RELATIONS/TERRORISM
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1. "PAKISTAN'S HYPOCRISY," editorial in the December 7
right-of-center DAINIK JAGRAN Hindi daily: "Pakistani
President Asif Ali Zardari's asking for concrete evidence
of Pakistani involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks is
nothing but a ploy to distract India. Pakistan always
declares the evidences to be insufficient. This time,
along with Pakistan, the international community should
also be provided evidence, especially those nations whose
citizens have been killed in the attacks. India should
show them how Pakistan is an expert in shirking its
responsibility and finding excuses... The Indian leadership
should ensure that no talks are resumed with Pakistan
without resolving the issue of terrorism across the
border. Actually, making excuses and betraying has become
Pakistan's national character. So, an unprecedented
diplomatic activeness is necessary for exposing this
character of Pakistan at international level. Pakistan
needs to realize that India is firm and is in no mood at
all to let it go this time."


2. "POSITIVE SIGNS," editorial in the December 6 centrist
NAVBHARAT TIMES Hindi daily: "Imams in India have urged
Muslims across the country to observe a black Eid, and to
condemn the Mumbai terror attacks in their Friday
prayers. Muslims have expressed their solidarity with the
affected people. Some prominent religious Muslim leaders
have demanded a strong action against Pakistan. These
attempts should be welcomed. It is noteworthy that the
Mumbai Muslim Council has refused to bury the bodies of
the terrorists. Obviously, the Indian Muslims are really
angry. They have openly come up this time and want to
show that they are united with the nation in this
critical time. The most influential Urdu papers have
appealed to the Muslims to realize their responsibility
and fight terrorism. It is a symbol of a major change in
the psyche of India's Muslim community. It is also a
message for the terrorists, who believe that can gain
Indian Muslims' sympathy in the name of Islam."


3. "ISI'S INVOLVEMENT," editorial in the December 6
nationalist RASHTRIYA SAHARA Hindi daily: "The evidence
of Pakistan intelligence agency ISI's links to the
terrorist attacks in Mumbai is not surprising. It is said
that the U.S. has more proof of this than Pakistan. The
Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral
Michael Mullen had already visited Pakistan when the
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reached there after
her India-visit. Both told the Pakistan government about
ISI's involvement in the Mumbai attacks. The ISI is under

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the Army's control. So, it has a really dangerous
meaning. If there were no evidences Rice would have not
warned Pakistan to act urgently against terror. The
present Pakistan regime has some diehard anti-India
elements. The Mumbai attacks also mean that Zardari and
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani do not have the complete
control of the country. India has a challenge to deal
with a nation in such a dangerous condition."


4. "AMERICA IS CREATING ENEMIES" editorial in the
December 6, 2008 Mumbai-based right-of-center Gujarati
daily MUMBAI SAMACHAR. "Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice's softening her tone [vis-`-vis Pakistan taking
tough measures against the perpetrators of the Mumbai
terror attacks] in Islamabad indicates many things. One
America should know that acts terrorism is not India
specific. This has become a global menace and requires
global action.... However, America's own track record on
terrorism front is terribly bad. It was AMERICA that
created the Taliban. It was AMERICA that emboldened
former Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein against Iran. Isn't
it ironic that this is the same nation which is now
fighting tooth and nail against its creators. The U.S.
should remember that any future attack on AMERICA will
emanate from Pakistan. When India and AMERICA are
world's two great democracies, it is depressing to learn
that AMERICA has given a frugal response to the Mumbai
terror attacks.... Terrorism has no boundaries. Today is
India. Who knows it might someone else in the future.
America is just creating enemies for itself. It is time
to call a spade a spade."


5. "LET PAKISTAN INSTIGATE BUT INDIA WILL NEVER ENTER
INTO WAR WITH PAKISTAN" editorial in the December 6, 2008
multi-edition centrist Gujarati daily GUJARATMITRA.
"Despite mounting Indian public opinion, it is not likely
that India will declare war against Pakistan. As history
suggests, India has been a mute victim of state-sponsored
terrorism that has claimed hundreds of thousands of its
innocent civilians. However, the 26/11 terror attacks on
Mumbai have transgressed all limits of patience that
India has maintained over the years. This is a macabre
incident aimed as instigating India to attack Pakistan.
While India won't take such a drastic measure, it
certainly needs to convey a strong message to the
perpetrators. India can at least bark at the enemy if
not bite!"


6. "PAKISTAN'S DESPERATENESS" editorial in the December
8, 2008 multi-edition centrist Gujarati daily DIVYA
BHASKAR. "Pakistan may have rubbished the news of Indo-
American 48-hour deadline to act against Lashkar-e-Taiba
chief Lakhvi and ISI chief Hamid Gul but the one thing it
cannot deny is that it is under immense pressure from
international quarters to show results (against
terrorists on it soil). Pakistan was never under such
pressure from the international community as it is
experiencing now. Even U.S. President-elect Barack Obama
has stated that all sovereign nations have right to self
defense giving a tacit message to Pakistan that if it

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does not act then India will. Senator John McCain has
supplemented Obama's statement by saying that Pakistan
has to prove in deed and not just in words its commitment
to act against terrorists. So is the case with European
Union which has also issued a stern message to
Pakistan.... Under such circumstances, India needs to up
its diplomatic ante with international support against
Pakistan and compel it to act against 'non-state' actors
in Pakistan who are responsible for fomenting trouble in
India.... India needs to be pro-active in its diplomacy to
garner world opinion against Pakistan that is desperately
trying to wash its hands off over this episode."


7. "ANTI-INDIA FORCES SHOULD BE SUPPRESSED" editorial in
the December 8 Guwahati Assamese independent ASAMIYA
KHABOR. "...India should move cautiously because the
enemies within the country are more dangerous than those
from the outside... It is difficult to identify these
internal adversaries... However, the government should
overcome its weaknesses and take stringent measures to
crush these
anti-India forces, both external and internal. For the
government, time has come to rise over narrow politics
and act responsibly so that the criminals do not go
unpunished."


8. "AFTER TERROR," editorial in the December 7
nationalist Kolkata Bengali daily ANANDABAZAR PATRIKA.
"...All the powerful western nations are unanimous against
terrorism and they cooperate with each other. This
alliance at the national level is helpful in fighting
terrorism. In South Asia too, an ambience of cooperation
should be created among countries for the war on terror.
A distance prevails as such among different ethnic groups
in the Indian sub-continent for various reasons.
Terrorism, because of this trend of not knowing each
other, makes one suspicious against the other. This is
more or less true about all the countries in the Indian
sub-continent. It is, therefore, essential to extend
one's helping hand, instead of harboring distrust, so
that the security of individual nations can be
protected. The western world, while leaving the past
behind it, lays greater emphasis on the need of the
present. The example of cooperation and development for
its citizens that the western world has set after
forgetting the differences of the past must have to be
imitated in the east. What is desirable in this sub-
continent is not a mere comparison of the extent of
terror between 9/11 and 26/11 but the attitude of
unflinching cooperation in curbing state terrorism post
9/11 that has been exhibited by the western world."


9. "WAR TO BE FOUGHT AGAINST TERRORISM, NOT BETWEEN TWO
COUNTRIES" edit-page article in the December 6 Kolkata
Bengali left-of-center SAMBAD PRATIDIN by Executive
Editor Anjan Basu. "...There seems to be a considerable
shift in U.S. stand vis-`-vis the sub-continent's
politics. The White House, which always favored
Pakistan, is now busy to improve its ties with India... The
U.S. is visibly annoyed with Pakistan's...duplicity and

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failure as far as terrorism is concerned... During her trip
to India and Pakistan just after the Mumbai attacks,
Condoleezza Rice made America's strong stand on terrorism
very clear... The U.S. has now realized its failure to
finish the al Qaida despite destroying Afghanistan... The
U.S., the originator of terrorism, and its longstanding
partner Pakistan, currently face the same predicament."


10. "THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PAKISTAN," editorial in the
December 6 nationalist Kolkata Bengali daily ANANDABAZAR
PATRIKA. "...The stiffness that was evident in the body
language of Rice in Delhi was found to be flexible in her
meetings in Islamabad. That is the general tendency.
The way Pakistan is viewed in the context of India is
changed when the distance grows a little away from
India. This is American diplomacy and this diplomacy is
responsible for Pakistan's natural sluggishness... A basic
issue needs to be cleared before both India and the U.S.
No matter what is Pakistan's role especially in the
Mumbai episode, Pakistan will have to take a role worth
mentioning in curbing terrorism, and there is no
alternative to it... If the chemistry of relations in the
subcontinent is not conducive, then AMERICA will have to
act as the mediator and that is America's, especially of
Rice's successor's, main responsibility."


11. "PAKISTAN'S NEWS TRICKS" editorial in the December 8,
2008, Mumbai edition of centrist Marathi daily LOKMAT.
"Pakistan has bared its characteristic dishonesty and
treachery in two recent instances which also speak of the
country's political culture. It is claimed by Pakistani
President Zardari that he received a phone call from
Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee in which the
latter accused Pakistan of the terror attack in Mumbai
and threatened of dire consequences. The Indian
government denied placing a call to Pakistan's President
at the height of the Mumbai siege. But the `call theory'
points towards another possibility - Pakistan's attempt
to divert attention from the fact the attack came from
Pakistan. Similarly, Pakistan initially claimed that
India and the US have set a 48-hour deadline for Pakistan
to take action against LeT. In a report of the Washington
Post, a high-ranking Pakistani official said Rice, in her
recent visit, had insisted on the arrest of at least
three Pakistanis allegedly linked to the assaults..."

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SECRETARY RICE VISIT TO INDIA AND PAKISTAN
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12. "A HOPE-GIVING VISIT" editorial in the December 8,
2008, Mumbai edition of left-of-center Marathi daily
MAHARASHTRA TIMES. "The U.S. has always tried to
normalize bilateral relations between India and Pakistan,
and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's latest visit to
both the countries is also one more step in this
direction. At least from what appears from her
statements, Rice seems convinced of Pakistan's
involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks. Even when she
met Pakistani authorities, she advised them to take

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direct action against Lashkar-e-toiba operatives who are
said to be behind the blasts in Mumbai... The truth is that
the U.S. knows for sure that terrorist outfits in
Pakistan, aided by Pakistani military and ISI, are
wreaking havoc all over the world. But the U.S. also
knows that any action against these terrorists needs
active assistance from Pakistani military. Therefore, the
U.S. is just playing it safe with Pakistan and this
policy has paid in the past, especially during General
Musharraf's tenure...."
MULFORD