MEDIA REACTION: INDIA/PAKISTAN, POTUS NOBEL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 002104 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, POTUS NOBEL AWARD, AFGHANISTAN, SINO-INDIA RELATIONS, NON- PROLIFERATION; NEW DELHI. This countrywide cable reports on relevant media reaction/opinion from India's large non-English press. The Mission reports on English-language media via email through the daily "Early Edition" summary. -------------- INDIA/PAKISTAN -------------- ¶1. "PAKISTAN, PLEASE WAKE UP!" editorial in October 12 Hindi daily, RASHTRIYA SAHARA: "The terrorist attack on Pakistan's military headquarters shows that it is reaping what it has sown. The strategy of nurturing terrorism against India has now become the biggest challenge for Pakistan's own existence. Suspicion in the Indian Embassy attack in Afghanistan is again pointing to the Pakistan Army and the ISI. Will Pakistan shed its terrorist strategy after this attack? It is still stuck to the same old Kashmir issue. It cannot break up Kashmir. Only time will tell if it can even save its own Balochistan, Sindh and tribal areas!" ¶2. "BOMB BLASTS IN PAKISTAN," editorial in October 13 right-of-center Urdu daily, MUNSIF: "The internal situation in Pakistan is horrendous, but the danger is for the entire South Asian region, including India. Pakistan is passing through its worst crisis. The political leadership has failed to influence the worsening internal situation." ¶3. "A REALISTIC FOREIGN POLICY NEEDED," op-ed article in left-of-center Marathi daily, AAPLA MAHANAGAR: "Indian Prime Ministers have always paid importance to dialogue and bilateral relations with neighbors. Such a policy is welcome, but it has to be coupled with a strong agenda that serves India's national interest. India will have to consider its allies very consciously, knowing fully well that Pakistan cannot be trusted. China too is untrustworthy, especially considering its frequent threats and claims on Indian territory. India has to be in a state of permanent alert." -------------- POTUS NOBEL AWARD -------------- ¶4. "AN ACT OF DECEPTION," editorial in October 13 right-of-center Urdu daily, URDU TIMES: "The world is bewildered by the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to �0A;Obama. But these simpletons do not know that the world has always been a place for tricksters. Here, those heads have been crowned who massacred thousands and thousands of innocent human beings. In this world, they are eulogized whose barbarism is more dangerous and horrible than those of wild beasts of the jungle. This award is a deception, which aims at proving great tyrants as gods of peace." ¶5. "HASTE IN AWARDING OBAMA," editorial in October 12 NEW DELHI 00002104 002 OF 002 Hindi daily, RASHTRIYA SAHARA: "The entire world, including President Barack Obama himself, is surprised at the Nobel award. His foreign policy initiatives on Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and Guantanamo etc. have not been productive. The world wants to see how he will meet these expectations." -------------- AFGHANISTAN -------------- ¶6. "ATTACK ON INDIAN EMBASSY IN KABUL," editorial in October 13 right-of-center Urdu daily, ETEMAAD: "India is playing a significant role in carrying out development projects in Afghanistan. Even then its engineers and authorities associated with these projects have been the targets of Taliban. World opinion is expressing its sense of defeatism due to an elongated fruitless war in Afghanistan. If India plays any sort of venture - some role, it should be ready to face the consequences thereof. Instead, India should maintain a balance in its bilateral relations with Afghanistan and Pakistan. Any imbalance may create an atmosphere of doubt and suspicion." -------------- SINO-INDIA RELATIONS -------------- ¶7. "CHINA CREATING CONSTERNATION," editorial in October 14 centrist Gujarati daily, DIVYA BHASKAR: "China seems to be obsessed with lodging objections whenever Indian officials visit Arunachal Pradesh. China's recent objection over Indian prime minister Singh's visit is not new. China has been eyeing this region ever since the 1962 war with India when it captured major part of Arunachal Pradesh. It is high time Indian leaders got to brass tacks." -------------- NON-PROLIFERATION -------------- ¶8. "NON-PROLIFERATION: WHO WILL THINK?" editorial in October 14 right-of-center Gujarati daily, MUMBAI SAMACHAR: "While one of the important objectives of the UN was to rid the world from nuclear weapons, there has been no progress on this issue at all. The world's most powerful nations possess such dangerous and hazardous weapons that mere thought of it sends a shiver down the spine. On the other hand, African and Asian nations are spending such huge amounts of money procuring weapons that they are unable to fight their own poverty, healthcare, education, safe drinking water, etc. This can be stopped only when the taxpayers of these small nations impel their governments not to buy weapons from self-centered big and powerful nations and instead use these monies for developmental purposes." ROEMER