PAKISTAN MEDIA REACTION: DECEMBER 23, 2009

UNCLAS ISLAMABAD 003076 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR KPAO OIIP OPRC PGOV PREL PK SUBJECT: PAKISTAN MEDIA REACTION: DECEMBER 23, 2009 Summary: Coverage of the suicide bombing at the Peshawar Press Club dominated front pages Wednesday morning, and all major newspapers termed it as a "blow to media freedom." Newspapers ran the U.S. Embassy's statement condemning the incident. A British newspaper, The Guardian report claiming that U.S. Special Forces conducted multiple clandestine raids into the tribal areas, received extensive coverage. Alongside the story, several major dailies highlighted the Pakistan Army Spokesman's comments rejecting the report as "baseless." "Dawn" front-paged a report quoting Ambassador Holbrooke as saying that the U.S. has members of its intelligence services in Pakistan but it has no troops. The U.S-Pakistan differences on the new Afghan strategy continued to play out in the headlines. Most papers reported Foreign Minister Qureshi's remarks, made at the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs that the military surge in Afghanistan could lead to further influx of militants into Pakistan. "The News" and its mass-circulation sister Urdu daily, reported on front-page that "U.S. government-run radio fears coup in Pakistan referring of an editorial run on RFE/RL." The same paper also reported that the U.S. (is) unlikely to bail out the Pakistani government on electricity subsidies. End Summary. TOP STORIES News Story: CJ Vows To Act Against Default, Loan Write-Off "Dawn" (12/23) "Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry promised on Tuesday 'across-the-board' action against people who got huge amounts of loans written off and asked State Bank Governor Syed Saleem Raza to collect details of all loans written off since 1971 with the assistance of heads of lending banks and financial institutions." News Story: U.S. Forces Multiple Raids In Pakistan "Pakistan Observer" (12/23) "A former NATO officer has revealed that American Special Forces conducted multiple clandestine raids into Pakistan's tribal areas as part of a secret war in the border region where Washington is pressing to expand its drone assassination program. The NATO officer said the incursions, only one of which has been previously reported, occurred between 2003 and 2008, involved helicopter-borne elite soldiers stealing across the border at night, and were never declared to the Pakistani government, The Guardian reported." News Story: U.S. Has Intelligence Personnel, But No Troops In Pakistan "Dawn" (12/23) "The United States has members of its intelligence services in Pakistan but it has no troops, U.S. Special Envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke said on Tuesday. 'We have members of our intelligence services in every country in the world,' Mr. Holbrooke told PBS Television when asked if the United States had troops in Pakistan." News Story: Pak Army Rejects Guardian Report "Express," "Khabrain," "Aaj Kal" (12/23) "Pakistan Army spokesman, Maj. General Athar Abbas, has rejected an article published in a British newspaper, The Guardian, in which it was claimed that U.S. Special Forces conducted multiple clandestine raids into the Tribal Areas between 2003 and 2008 as part of a secret war in the border region where Washington is pressing to expand drone strikes. The newspaper had quoted a former NATO officer as saying that the incursions involved helicopter-borne elite soldiers stealing across the border at night and were never declared to the Pakistani government. Athar termed the report as entirely baseless adding that no foreign country has the authority to conduct such raids inside the country. He made it clear that only Pakistan's armed forces have the right to take military action against the terrorists in any part of the country." News Story: Woman Moves LHC Over Harassment By FBI "Dawn" (12/23) "The Lahore High Court has sought written comments from Federal Secretaries of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior on a petition filed by a woman doctor alleging that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had tried to kidnap her. Justice Asad Munir ordered the secretaries on Tuesday to file their replies within three weeks in response to the petition of Dr. Mehwish Saleem Baig." TERRORISM/MILITARY ISSUES News Story: Qureshi Hits Out At New U.S. Strategy "Dawn" (12/23) "As the diplomatic row between Pakistan and the U.S. over the new Afghanistan strategy intensifies, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told the Americans in categorical terms that Islamabad would neither allow expansion of drone attacks to Balochistan nor permit 'hot pursuit' by foreign troops. Addressing a meeting of the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, convened at the Foreign Office to deliberate on various aspects of the new U.S. policy for Afghanistan, Mr. Qureshi warned that there were red lines which must not be crossed and said that drone strikes were "counter-productive and unhelpful" in the war against extremism." News Story: Taliban Target Media "Daily Times" (12/23) "Three people, including a woman, were killed and another 24 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the main gate of the Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday.... NWFP Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain told reporters at the scene that targeting journalists was 'militants' compulsion,' as the journalists were exposing the terrorists to the public.... The Peshawar Press Club has announced three-day mourning." News Story: Attack On Press Club Blow To Media Freedom "Dawn" (12/23) "The International Press Institute lamented a deadly attack on a press club in Pakistan's troubled northwest on Tuesday as a tragic blow for media freedom. 'Pakistan is already one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists out in the field,' IPI Director David Dadge said in a statement." News Story: U.S. Flays Attack on PPC "The News," "Express," "Ausaf,' "Pakistan." "Islam" (12/23) "The U.S. Embassy has condemned the vicious terrorist attack on the Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday that killed and wounded many innocent people. 'Freedom of the press is the hallmark of a free and democratic society. Today's attack demonstrates the terrorists contempt for Pakistan's democracy,' said a press release issued in Islamabad." News Story: Smugglers Using NATO Supply Trucks To Afghanistan "Dawn" (12/23) "Frontier Corps troops foiled on Tuesday an attempt to smuggle fertilizer using trucks carrying supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan. The truck driver and cleaner were arrested and the vehicle was impounded. Sources said that the fertilizer was hidden in a sealed container along with other NATO supplies." News Story: 18 Militants Killed In Orakzai Agency "Dawn" (12/23) "Eighteen militants, including a local leader of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, were killed in security forces' shelling and a clash with a tribal lashkar in lower and upper Orakzai agency on Tuesday, officials said." News Story: U.S. Donates Life-Saving Ambulances; Nwfp To Receive Emergency Vehicles Worth Over $77,000 "Express," 'Jang," "Pakistan Observer," "Jinnah" (12/23) "Robert Wilson, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director, donated ten ambulances to the Dera Ismail Khan Health Department in a ceremony held on Tuesday in Islamabad. The ambulances, designed and equipped to assist pregnant women and newborns, will provide more rapid access to emergency medical services in one of Pakistan's most remote and conflict-ridden areas." POLITICAL ISSUES News Story: U.S. Govt.-Run Radio Fears Coup In Pakistan "The News" (12/23) "Conditions in Pakistan have been ripening, like the mango fruit eaten there, for another military coup d'etat. The economy has slumped, corruption is rampant, and terrorism is endemic. People are losing faith in the officials they brought to power, U.S. Congress funded Radio Free Liberty (RFE) said in a political commentary on Pakistan on Monday. RFE is supervised by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, a bipartisan federal agency overseeing all U.S. international broadcasting services. It is funded by the U.S. Congress and broadcasts in 28 languages to 20 countries." News Story: U.S. Does Not Want Military Government In Pakistan; We Will Continue To Support Democracy: Bryan D. Hunt" "Din," "The News" (12/23) "U.S. Consulate Principal Officer Bryan Hunt has said that the U.S. does not want a military government in Pakistan; we will continue to fully support democracy in Pakistan. He was addressing a seminar on 'U.S-Pakistan Relations' at the University of South Asia. Addressing the seminar, he further said that Pakistani and American governments have the same objective: both want to see South Asia cleansed of terrorists and are working together to this end." News Story: NAB Moves To Withdraw References Against Zardari "Dawn" (12/23) "The National Accountability Bureau asked accountability courts on Tuesday not to revive 'corruption references' against President Asif Ali Zardari because he 'enjoys immunity' under the Constitution." ECONOMY/ENVIRONMENT News Story: U.S. Unlikely To Bail Out Pak Govt. On Power Subsidy "The News" (12/23) "The Obama administration seems not inclined to providing financial solace to Pakistan to enable the government to continue with the subsidy on electricity tariff for lifeline consumers. 'The government is not receiving encouraging indications from the U.S. to this effect. So far, the U.S. also seems reluctant to bail out Pakistan in this regard,' a senior official of the Ministry of Finance told .The News.'" News Story: Afghanistan Not To Press Pakistan For Allowing India Transit Route "The News" (12/23) "Afghanistan has agreed not to further press Pakistan for allowing land transit route to India after Afghans were given access to Wahga border on the Pakistani side for transportation of goods to India, says a senior official of the Commerce Ministry, Islamabad." MISCELLANEOUS News Story: December Is 'Real Deadline' U.S. Tells Iran "Dawn" (12/23) "The United States warned Iran on Tuesday that December is "a very real deadline" after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed an international ultimatum over its nuclear program. The United States and France have repeatedly urged Tehran to accept a United Nations-drafted deal to swap enriched uranium for nuclear fuel by the end of the year or face the threat of further sanctions, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said." EDITORIALS/OPINIONS Editorial: Pakistan And The USA, an editorial in the center-right national English daily "The Nation" (cir. 20,000) (12/23) "The United States may have developed a new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, but linking them has not worked, not least because the role it gave India in Afghanistan has been used to destabilize Pakistan." Editorial: Get Tough on Foreigners Too, an editorial in the Karachi-based, pro-Taliban Jihadi Urdu daily "Islam" (cir. 15,000) (12/23) "The scuffle between the U.S. Consulate staff, and the Lahore Airport security officials is yet another example the suspicious activities and growing high-handedness of the American diplomats in Pakistan. The incident also demonstrates the level and magnitude of liberty the U.S. nationals are enjoying in our country. Punjab Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, must take immediate and strict notice of illegal activities of the U.S. Consulate in Lahore." Editorial: Suicide Attack On Peshawar Press Club, an editorial note in the Lahore-based populist center-right Urdu daily "Khabrain" (cir. 50,000) (12/23) "The suicide attack on Peshawar Press Club is condemnable; but this and other such attacks cannot discourage the journalists. Journalists vow that they will not let the sacrifice of their colleagues go in vain, and will always uphold the truth." Editorial: Attack On The Peshawar Press Club: A Heinous Attempt To Suppress The Truth, an editorial note in the liberal Urdu daily "Express" (circ. 25, 000) (12/23) "This is the first suicide attack on a Press Club in the country. Although in the past, journalists received threatening calls, and some became victims of targeted killing, this is the first attack on the journalists as a community.... This tragedy also reveals that although countless announcements have been made regarding security plans for Muharram, there still remains a lot to be done. Moreover, through patience and unity in their ranks, journalists must send out a signal to the militants that they cannot force the media from writing the truth [through such acts]. This attack has also revealed that after police, army, women and children, the media is now being targeted. Can anyone say even now that this is not our war?"Q Editorial: Credit Where It's Due, editorial in the Karachi-based center-left independent national English daily "Dawn" (cir. 55,000) (12/23) "Killing or forcing militants to flee doesn't necessarily restore normality to the lives of displaced persons. Yes, the immediate threat posed by the Taliban is overcome when they are neutralized. But that doesn't mean the people returning to their homes in Swat and elsewhere in Malakand can pick up where they left off now that the militants are on the run.... What the people in conflict-hit regions need right now is not just military action against the Taliban but the means to ensure their survival after the war." Editorial: Electric Shock, an editorial in the Lahore-based liberal English language daily "Daily Times" (cir. 10,000) (12/23) "The decision to withdraw electricity subsidies being given to lifeline consumers and the agriculture sector does not come as a surprise as it was part of the conditionalities that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had set for Pakistan. Under the IMF's pressure, Pakistan has had to take many unpopular decisions on economic matters, the new electricity tariff being one of them." Editorial: Slashing Subsidies, an editorial in the populist, often sensational national English daily "The News" (cir. 55,000) (12/23) "For people locked in a constant struggle against poverty and hardship, life just got a little tougher. Complying with tough demands from the IMF, the government will raise power tariff by 13.5 per cent in January.... The impact of the deal of desperation struck with the IMF last year, as the country faced bankruptcy, is now hitting home hard.... The consequence of this is something the government needs to consider." Editorial: PPP And PML-N Again Vow To Strengthen Democracy; Improve Good Governance And Keep Your Spokesmen Under Control, an editorial in the second-largest, nationalist Urdu daily "Nawa-i-Waqt" (cir. 150,000) (12/23) "In the present hostile environment, it is indeed encouraging that PM Gillani and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had a meeting, which will have long term effects on strengthening democracy. However, will the nation benefit from this mutual effort to save the PPP government? Both the parties will face public wrath if the PPP avoids focusing on good governance, and instead keeps working to save the group of looters within its ranks and the PML-N -- despite all this - comes to the government's defense just to protect the system." Editorial: The World Without Nuclear Weapons, an editorial in the country's premier business newspaper, "Business Recorder" (cir. 25,000) (12/23) "Media reports indicate a proximity of views between the U.S. and Russia on a 'new arms control treaty that would reduce their strategic nuclear arsenals by at least one quarter'. In case a treaty is brokered on the lines being suggested, this would constitute an important development.... Will Obama be able to pursue the dream of a world without nuclear weapons? What provides confidence is the single-mindedness with which he has pursued the ideal so far." Opinion: The State Circus, an op-ed by Shireen M. Mazari in the center-right national English daily "The Nation" (cir. 20,000) (12/23) "What Musharraf started in terms of giving unfettered access to the U.S. in Pakistan has been expanded by the present democratic rulers to the extent that U.S. citizens are arrogantly defying all laws of the country - a sort of 'in your face' attitude. If any Pakistani state employee dares to 'inflict' the law of the land on an American, our very own Interior Ministry makes his life hell for doing his duty! So while the Americans are seeking a quick exit out of this region, we are getting further entangled militarily in FATA and are seeing a two-front external threat with India, aided and abetted by the U.S., giving sustenance to terrorism and militancy in the tribal belt and beyond in Pakistan. At the same time, terrorism continues to expand across the country, with the comprehensive strategy by the state to deal with the issue. But then, there seem to be no strategies for anything - beyond the expansion of the 'friends of the rulers' network putting their hand in every national till." Opinion: U.S. Looking For Attack On Pakistan, an op-ed by Asif Haroon Raja in the Islamabad-based rightist English daily "Pakistan Observer" (cir. 5,000) (12/23) "CIA, FBI and U.S. diplomats should not have encountered any bottlenecks since they move about in Pakistan unchecked and enjoy full cooperation of all law enforcement and intelligence agencies.... Having fully committed the army in fighting a futile U.S. war on terror, RAW sponsored terrorist duly aided by Blackwater elements are playing havoc into major cities of Pakistan through almost daily bomb blasts and suicide attacks. While CIA and FBI along with its shady private mercenary outfits are fully involved in the destabilization game, the U.S. leaders are hypocritically singing tunes that Pakistan is a key ally and the U.S. seeks its stability and prosperity." (All circulation figures are based on estimation) Patterson