MEDIA REACTION: INDIA-PAKISTAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 NEW DELHI 003084 SIPDIS STATE FOR NP, AC, PM STATE FOR INR/MR STATE FOR SCA/INS, PM/CBM, PM/PRO STATE FOR SCA/PPD, PA/RRU STATE FOR AID/APRE-A USDOC FOR 4530/IEP/ANESA/OSA FOR BILL MURPHY 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." -------------- INDIA-PAKISTAN RELATIONS/TERRORISM -------------- ¶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 NEW DELHI 00003084 002 OF 005 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 NEW DELHI 00003084 003 OF 005 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 NEW DELHI 00003084 004 OF 005 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..." -------------- SECRETARY RICE VISIT TO INDIA AND PAKISTAN -------------- ¶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 NEW DELHI 00003084 005 OF 005 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