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UNCLAS ISLAMABAD 000672 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR KPAO OIIP OPRC PGOV PREL PK
SUBJECT:  PAKISTAN MEDIA REACTION: MARCH 00, 2009 
 
Summary:  U.S. President Obama's statement emphasizing that "U.S. 
would not go in hot pursuit of extremists across the Afghan border" 
dominated headlines in all newspapers on Monday.  Several major 
newspapers highlighted Secretary of State Clinton's remarks that the 
"new U.S. strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan relies heavily on 
civilian efforts."  Some dailies reported that "Ambassador Holbrooke 
will visit India soon to discuss Washington's new strategy to defeat 
a resurgent Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan."  Reports on abduction of "ten 
Khasadars (tribal cops), and six activists of a religious 
organization in Khyber Agency" received prominent display.  Also 
highlighted by all newspapers was report that "President Zardari 
signed the summary for lifting Governor's rule from Punjab." 
 
Most major dailies ran analytical editorials on the President 
Zardari's address to the Parliament and the prevailing geo-political 
situation of the region.  The center-right national English daily 
"The Nation," observed that "it is hard to conceive a scenario 
helpful to U.S. objectives without the resolution of the core issue 
of Kashmir."  Commenting on the suicide bombing at a mosque in 
Jamrud (FATA), the centrist national daily, "The News," noted that 
"we have only ourselves to blame if others see us a nation of 
barbarians and should not be surprised if, as a consequences, they 
sometime treat us accordingly."  Dispelling the criticism on ISI, 
the second-largest Urdu daily, "Nawa-i-Waqt," opined that the 
"government is duty bound to tell the visiting envoy Holbrooke next 
week that Pakistan will stop cooperation in the war on terror if 
U.S. nonsense about Pakistan Army and ISI were not stopped."  End 
Summary. 
 
----------------- 
News Stories 
----------------- 
 
"Troops To Stay Way From Pak Territory: Obama" "The News" (03/30) 
 
"President Barrack Obama has said the US troops will not go in hot 
pursuit of extremists across the Afghan border into Pakistan - but 
demanded Islamabad hold up its end of the anti-terror struggle. "I 
haven't changed my approach," Obama said in an interview broadcast 
on Sunday on the CBS programme "Face the Nation," referring to the 
US missile strikes on militants. "If we have a high-value target 
within our sights, after consulting with Pakistan, we're going after 
them," the president said." 
 
"Obama Rules Out Sending Troops inside Pakistan" "Dawn" (03/30) 
 
"US President Barack Obama said on Sunday that US would pursue 
'high-value' terrorist target inside Pakistan but would consult 
Islamabad before doing so." 
 
"New Strategy Relies On Diplomacy, Says Hillary" "Dawn" (03/30) 
 
"Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the new US strategy 
for Afghanistan and Pakistan relies heavily on civilian efforts, and 
she is calling for all US diplomats to contribute. In a cable to US 
embassies and consulates abroad, Clinton says the success of 
President Barack Obama's plan depends on the State Department and 
the US Agency for International Development, whose ranks in 
Afghanistan and Pakistan are in line for boosts." 
 
"Holbrooke To Visit India" "Dawn" (03/30) 
 
"Top US diplomat Richard Holbrooke will visit India soon to discuss 
Washington's new strategy to defeat a resurgent Al Qaeda in 
Afghanistan that puts Pakistan at the heart of the fight." 
 
"10 Khasadars, Six Religious Activists Kidnapped" "Dawn" (03/30) 
 
"Ten Khasadars and six activists of a religious organization were 
kidnapped in Khyber Agency here on Sunday. Armed men kidnapped ten 
personnel of the Khasadar Force from a checkpost in the Sheen Qamar 
area, about 30km west of Bara, official sources said." 
 
"Governor's Rule Fate Sealed"  "The News" (03/30) 
 
"President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday night signed the summary for 
the lifting of governor's rule from the Punjab on the advice of 
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, Presidency sources confirmed 
to The News." 
"US To Remove Trust Deficit With Pakistan" "The News" (03/30) 
 
"The United States on Sunday vowed to work towards building trust 
and wide-ranging partnership with Pakistan, with its top diplomat 
and military commander for the region saying the US focus under the 
new strategy was to help Pakistani institutions develop necessary 
capability to dismantle the al-Qaeda militants on its side of the 
Afghan border. US special representative for the region Richard 
Holbrooke and chief of the Central Command Gen David Petraeus said 
the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan will work trilaterally to overcome 
the "trust deficit" in some aspects of the relationship that has 
seen 'ups and downs' in the past." 
 
"Pakistan Must Cut Ties With Afghan Extremists: Gates" "Daily Times" 
(03/30) 
 
"US Defence Secretary Robert Gates urged Pakistan's Inter-Services 
Intelligence (ISI) agency to cut contacts with extremists in 
Afghanistan who were "an existential threat" to Pakistan." 
 
"TTP Bans Women From Shopping In Batkhela" "The News" (03/30) 
 
"The Malakand chapter of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan 
(TTP) outfit banned the movement and shopping by the womenfolk in 
the main bazaars of Dargai and Batkhela on Sunday. Sources said that 
shopkeepers in the markets had received threatening letters from the 
TTP, warning them to stop the women from visiting their shops." 
 
"DPO, Ex-Nazim Among 5 Killed In Lower Dir Attack" "Dawn" (03/30) 
 
"The District Police Officer of Lower Dir, Khurshid Khan, and former 
district nazim Alamzeb Khan were among five people killed when they 
were attacked by the kidnappers of a bank manager on Sunday." 
 
"India Test-Fires New Version Of Brahmos Missile" "Dawn" (03/30) 
 
"India's military on Sunday successfully tested a surface-to-surface 
version of the BrahMos cruise missile which it has developed jointly 
with Russia, a defense ministry spokesman said." 
 
--------------------- 
Editorials/Op-eds 
--------------------- 
 
"Under Indian Pressure," an editorial in the center-right national 
English daily "The Nation" (cir. 20,000) (03/30) 
 
"It is hard to conceive a scenario helpful to US objectives without 
the resolution of the core issue of Kashmir. . . It appeared that 
during his electoral campaign, Mr Obama visualized the 
subcontinent's situation correctly when he highlighted the 
importance of Kashmir as a central dispute between India and 
Pakistan and his emphasis on its resolution. There had also been 
talk of appointing a special envoy and the assignment was expected 
to go to former President Clinton and then India was excluded from 
Mr. Holbrooke's mandate. Mr. Holbrooke now is US Special Envoy for 
Afghanistan and Pakistan only. But the Obama administration's 
U-turn, obviously under pressure from India, is bound to cause 
widespread disappointment and prove a formidable stumbling block to 
its objective in the region." 
 
"Golden Opportunity Goes Waste," an op-ed by Hamid Mir in the 
leading mass circulation centrist Urdu daily "Jang" (cir. 300,000) 
(03/30) 
 
"President Barack Obama in his speech described the menace of 
terrorism as a cancer.  However, a vast majority of the Muslims does 
not agree to this point of view.  In fact, the actual cancer is 
injustice, and this injustice is being committed in Palestine, Iraq, 
Afghanistan and Kashmir. The menace of terrorism will not be 
controlled unless this injustice is done away with." 
 
"Straight Answers To Be Sought From Holbrooke" an op-ed by Mariana 
Baabar in the centrist national English daily "The News" (cir. 
55,000) (03/30) 
 
". . . Efforts are being made that Holbrooke meets the political and 
military leadership around one table and not separately and they all 
come up with a unified response. This is the only way that the US 
can stop playing one against the other like they have been doing in 
the past. Pakistan should show spine and draw red lines and clearly 
say that this is as far as they can go and no more. . .  But what is 
not very welcome is the fact that the Foreign Office failed to come 
up with a consolidated response after Obama's address. The foreign 
secretary needs no permission, say several foreign secretaries, to 
come out with a detailed response while at the same time not 
contradicting the leadership." 
 
"Death By Bombing," an editorial in the centrist national English 
daily "The News" (cir. 55,000) (03/30) 
 
". . . We live in a time of globalized instant communication to the 
most remote places on the surface of the earth. The world watches 
and judges, it sees things in black-and-white and is mostly unaware 
of the inflections and nuances that lie behind even this most 
barbarous of acts. We should not be surprised when our northwest 
borderlands are talked of by President Obama as 'the most dangerous 
place on earth' - because on the evidence of this blast and many 
other incidents, it is. We have only ourselves to blame if others 
see us a nation of barbarians and should not be surprised if, as a 
consequence, they sometimes treat us accordingly." 
 
"America's Plan To Mount Pressure On ISI" an editorial note in the 
second-largest, center-right nationalist Urdu daily "Nawa-i-Waqt" 
(cir. 125,000) (03/30) 
"American Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman Admiral Mike 
Mullen said in a CNN interview that some elements in Pakistan's ISI 
are helping out the Taliban and Al-qaeda.  U.S. envoy on Pakistan 
and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke took the discussion forward by 
saying that he will increase pressure on Pakistan to stop ISI from 
helping Taliban and Al Qaeda.  Despite the fact that the army and 
ISI personnel are being killed in the so-called war against 
terrorism stupid American commanders are in doubt about the ISI 
role.  The government is duty bound to tell the visiting envoy 
Holbrooke next week that Pakistan will stop cooperation in the war 
against terrorism if U.S. nonsense about Pakistan army and ISI were 
not stopped." 
"U.S. Propaganda Against ISI" an editorial note in the popular 
rightist Urdu-language daily "Ausaf" (cir. 10,000) (03/30) 
 
"The new U.S. strategy and the baseless allegations against ISI 
clearly demonstrate that the United States maintains no good 
intention about Pakistan.  And it wants to achieve its objectives by 
destabilizing Pakistan in the garb of this propaganda." 
 
"A New Dawn For Af-Pak," an op-ed by Zeenia Satti in the centrist 
national English daily "The News" (cir. 55,000) (03/30) 
 
"The AF-Pak strategy unveiled by Barack Obama on March 27 is good 
news for the Afghan people and bad news for the Afghan leadership. 
For Pakistan the opposite is the case: good news for its leadership 
but bad for ordinary Pakistanis. When the US coined the term Af-Pak, 
it created the assumption that the problems faced in Afghanistan and 
Pakistan were the same. Therefore, the solutions would also be the 
same. That has not happened. For Pakistan, it's all about militants 
and terrorists - who want to destroy civilization and hence they 
'must be eliminated.' The PPP government will receive development 
aid and there will be no check on how it spends this aid, unlike in 
Afghanistan. This is something that the new policy should have 
considered because the chance that such funds will be squandered is 
always high." 
 
"Obama's New Strategy," an op-ed by Talat Masood in the centrist 
national English daily "The News" (cir. 55,000) (03/30) 
 
". . . President Obama perhaps deliberately made no mention of drone 
attacks, but the earlier leaks in the New York Times and other 
newspapers is a clear indication that these would continue and may 
even increase. . . Presence of sanctuaries in our tribal belt would 
be unacceptable to US and NATO. Question arises is the Pakistan Army 
even with the best of intentions in a position to regain control 
over South and North Waziristan and other parts of FATA. Equally if 
not more crucial is whether the civilian government can provide the 
leadership that is necessary to take the people along. After all 
this is not a conventional war and people's support is so vital in 
fighting insurgencies. ." 
 
"Prime Minister Gilani's Assurance On Discontinuation Of Drone 
Attacks," an editorial note in the leading mass circulation centrist 
Urdu daily "Jang" (cir. 300,000) (03/30) 
 
"Prime Minister Gilani's declaration, that there will be no drone 
attacks on Swat and Balochistan, is praiseworthy.  Nonetheless it is 
essential for the United States to acknowledge the importance of the 
Pakistan's role in the war on terror, refrain from leveling 
unfounded allegations, and make sure to halt drone predators attacks 
on Pakistan immediately." 
 
"Drone Attacks To Continue," an Op-ed by Ayaz A.Khan in the 
Islamabad-based rightist English daily "Pakistan Observer" (cir. 
5,000) (03/30) 
 
". . . CIA Director Leon Panetta's visit to Islamabad to meet 
Pakistani authorities signifies the great importance accorded by the 
Obama Administration to engage Pakistan on the serious issues of 
terrorism, extremism, and militancy, especially kidnappings and 
beheadings of foreigners. It is about time that the Obama 
Administration is warned that drone attacks on Quetta or anywhere in 
Balochistan will be considered an act of war; and the Pakistan Air 
Force and Pakistan Army could be ordered to shoot down such 
intruding Predator drones." 
 
"No More Drones," an editorial in the Islamabad-based rightist 
English daily "Pakistan Observer" (cir. 5,000) (03/30) 
 
"There is need for concerted efforts by top level leadership to 
persuade the US to stop the drone attacks in FATA as well, because 
they are proving to be counter productive and an infringement of 
sovereignty of the country. The Parliamentary Committee on National 
Security has also expressed dissatisfaction over President Obama's 
failure to announce an end to the drone attacks and declared it a 
failure of our foreign policy. The leadership must also be very 
careful in welcoming the new Afghan strategy announced by the US 
President without going into its pros and cons. Reports from 
Washington quoting National Security Advisor, Defense Secretary and 
Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff are not encouraging and Pakistan 
will have to bear the brunt when it was implemented on the ground." 
 
 
"Slavery For American Dollars," an op-ed by Ansar Abbasi in the 
leading mass circulation centrist Urdu daily "Jang" (cir. 300,000) 
(03/30) 
 
"With the announcement of the new U.S. strategy by President Obama 
and the indication of 1.5 billion dollar annual assistance, 
Pakistani rulers are coveting U.S. assistance eagerly.  President 
Zardari and PM Gilani have immediately welcomed the Obama Plan 
thoughtlessly.  We don't criticize U.S. as it desires to destroy 
Pakistan for achieving its objectives like it did in Afghanistan and 
Iraq, but it is unfortunate that we, Pakistanis, have become a 
plaything in the hands of United States so easily, and now we are 
heading towards total destruction and the most awful civil war, 
which is perhaps vital to fulfill the U.S. plan in this part of the 
world." 
 
"Shall We Dance," an editorial in the centrist national English 
daily "The News" (cir. 55,000) (03/30) 
 
"The change that Obama has initiated is the sending of a message to 
the Iranian people and its ever-suspicious government, a message 
delivered in Farsi by the thoroughly modern medium of satellite 
television and the internet. The message spoke of reaching out, of 
the need to redefine the relationship between the two countries and 
on Saturday we saw the first Iranian response to it. . . Iran's 
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed the overtures from 
Obama saying Tehran does not see any change in US policy. The real 
change is that America is for the first time almost thirty years 
making a direct approach at both the highest and the lowest levels 
to the Iranian peoples and their government. Obama has demonstrated 
in his relations with our own government that he really is doing it 
differently. It is too early to say just how much 'difference' this 
is going to bring between us, and far too early to take at face 
value the dismissal of the Obama message by Khamenei." 
 
"Presidential Address:  The Need To Do A Lot More," an editorial in 
the second-largest, center-right nationalist Urdu daily 
"Nawa-i-Waqt" (cir. 125,000) (03/30) 
"In his address to the joint sitting of the Parliament, President 
Asif Ali Zardari announced to continue supporting the American war 
on terror and American policy on Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Contrary 
to the people's expectations, he voided to say any thing on drone 
attacks on Pakistan tribal areas and American propaganda against 
Pakistan's ISI and the army.  The President did not inform the 
people of Pakistan about Indian conspiracies in the aftermath of 
Mumbai attacks and subsequent American pressure, despite the fact 
that this was the biggest event of the previous parliamentary year 
which created grave threats for the country's security." 
 
"President's Address To Parliament And Requisites Of National 
Security," an editorial note in the Karachi-based, pro Taliban 
Jihadi Urdu daily "Islam" (cir. 15,000) (03/30) 
 
"It is regrettable that President Zardari did not utter a single 
word about the U.S. drone attacks in his address to the joint 
session of the Parliament, however, Prime Minister Gilani told a 
good news that the U.S. administration would not launch drone 
attacks in Balochistan or any other part of Pakistan anymore.  If 
the U.S. administration has accepted Pakistan's demand on this 
issue, then it is commendable, however if Pakistan has assured the 
U.S. to initiate a new military operation in the tribal areas by 
itself, then it will be a more precarious and explosive situation 
for Pakistan than the U.S. drone attacks." 
 
Patterson