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SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR KPAO OIIP OPRC PGOV PREL PK
SUBJECT:  PAKISTAN MEDIA REACTION: JANUARY 05, 2010 
 
Summary:  Coverage of a variety of public statements by President 
Zardari dominated front pages today, including his declaration that 
"Pakistan's desire for peace is not a weakness."  General Stanley 
McChrystal's remarks made during his visit yesterday received wide 
coverage in nearly all English language dailies.  Papers reported 
the General's statements on ISAF and Pakistan military coordination, 
development of a joint Pakistan-U.S. counter-insurgency campaign, 
and the shrinking trust deficit between U.S. and Pakistan forces. 
All major English dailies highlighted reports that travelers from 
Pakistan and thirteen other nations will be subject to full body 
searches before boarding U.S. bound flights.   The News published a 
report that the head of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazi has asked the GoP 
to end its alliance with the U.S., blaming the government's pro-U.S. 
policies for the rise in terrorist attacks in Pakistan.  All major 
dailies continued coverage of the alleged American Jihadis, 
reporting that the suspects denied plotting terrorism in Pakistan. 
End Summary. 
 
TOP STORIES 
 
News Story: Armed Forces Capable Of Safeguarding Pakistan: Zardari; 
Pak Desire For Peace Not a Weakness - "The News" (01/05) 
 
"President Asif Ali Zardari said on Monday that the armed forces of 
Pakistan were capable of safeguarding the national sovereignty and 
territorial integrity of the country. He was addressing the 92nd 
officers commissioning parade of the Pakistan Navy at the Pakistan 
Naval Academy. 'Pakistan is a peace-loving nation and we are willing 
to go an extra mile to resolve all issues through dialogue. We 
sincerely hope that the solutions we achieve are just, principled 
and long-lasting. However, our desire for peace must not be taken as 
a sign of weakness,' the president said." 
 
News Story: Joint Pakistan-U.S. Action Against Taliban In The Offing 
 - "Dawn," "The News," "Daily Times" (01/05) 
 
"Pakistan and the United States are working on a plan to take joint 
military action against Taliban and launch coordinated attacks on 
both sides of the Pak-Afghan border, according to Gen. Stanley 
McChrystal, Commander of the NATO-led International Security 
Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. He was talking to reporters 
at the residence of the U.S. Ambassador on Monday evening after 
holding talks with military commanders in Islamabad and visiting 
Swat.... Gen. McChrystal, who was all praise for the military's 
counter-insurgency campaign and the leadership of Army chief Gen. 
Kayani, said he had no reasons to doubt Pakistan Army's sincerity." 
 
 
News Story: Date Not Fixed For Joint Strategic Dialogue: U.S. 
Embassy" - "Jang" (01/05) 
 
"The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad has refuted any deferral in the Joint 
Strategic Dialogue between Pakistan and the United States saying 
that no date had been set for the next meeting. Talking to the media 
on Monday, U.S. Embassy spokesman, Richard Snelsire, said that both 
countries are working to finalize the schedule for the next session 
of Pak-U.S. Joint Strategic Dialogue." 
 
News Story: Pakistanis, Citizens Of 13 Other States Face More 
Stringent Airport Checks  - "Dawn" (01/05) 
 
"At the U.S. behest, airports across the world introduced enhanced 
security checks from Monday for citizens of 14 countries, including 
Pakistan. The measures, implemented in response to the attempted 
Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. airliner, include extensive full 
body searches, swabbing of luggage to detect explosives and body 
scans. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) divided 
those 14 countries into two categories - 'state sponsors of 
terrorism and countries of interest.'" 
 
News Story: JUI-F Chief Asks Govt. To Quit - "The News" (01/05) 
 
"Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has 
asked the government to quit the United States-led alliance against 
terror and implement the resolution unanimously passed by parliament 
for formulating anti-terror policies to safeguard Pakistan's 
integrity. 'It is due to the government's pro-U.S. polices that the 
war on terror has reached our homeland and now lives and properties 
of the people are not safe," he said while talking to reporters on 
Monday in Lakki Marwat." 
TERRORISM/MILITARY ISSUES 
 
News Story: Americans Deny They Planned To Carry Out Attacks  - 
"Dawn" (01/05) 
 
"Five Americans suspected of using the Internet to contact militant 
groups to carry out terrorist attacks told an anti-terrorism court 
in Sargodha on Monday they had only wanted to give fellow Muslims 
financial and medical aid in Afghanistan. The students, in their 20s 
and from the U.S. state of Virginia, were detained last month." 
 
News Story: U.S. Citizen Acquitted After Police Drop Charges - "The 
News" (01/05) 
 
"Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Muhammad Anwar Nazir on Monday acquitted 
a U.S. citizen after police dropped charges against him and sent 
five others to jail for 14 days. Earlier, the police produced Khalid 
Farooq, Umar, Aman Ahmed, Waqar and Rami before the court. The court 
also directed the police to submit the Challan on January 18." 
 
News Story: U.S. Military Is Exhausted: Report - "Pakistan Observer" 
(01/05) 
 
"The call for over 30,000 more troops to be sent to Afghanistan is a 
travesty for the people of that country who have already suffered 
eight brutal years of occupation. It is also a harsh blow to the 
U.S. soldiers facing imminent deployment. As Barack Obama, the U.S. 
President, gears up for a further escalation that will bring the 
total number of troops in Afghanistan to over 100,000, he faces a 
military force that has been exhausted and overextended by fighting 
two wars, reports Al Jazeera." 
 
News Story: Karachi Target Killings Have Claimed 256 Lives - "The 
News" (01/05) 
 
"As many as 256 people, including workers of the Muttahida Qaumi 
Movement (MQM), the MQM (Haqiqi), the PPP and the ANP, have so far 
fallen prey to target killings in Karachi. Interior Minister Rehman 
Malik, while expressing concern over the target killings, has 
directed the departments concerned to take immediate measures to 
punish the culprits. A high-level meeting, chaired by Rehman Malik 
in Islamabad on Monday, took stock of the ever-increasing incidents 
of target killings in Karachi. Senior officials in the Ministry of 
Interior, the government of Sindh, intelligence agencies and rangers 
attended the meeting." 
 
News Story: Rangers In Karachi To Get More Powers  - "Dawn" (01/05) 
 
 
"The government has decided to give more powers to Rangers deployed 
in Karachi under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), allowing the 
paramilitary force to arrest anyone involved in violence for 90 
days, a source in the Interior Ministry told 'Dawn' on Monday." 
 
News Story: Militants Burn Village In Lower Orakzai - "Dawn" (01/05) 
 
 
"According to officials, armed men of the proscribed 
Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan raided the village of Tori Mela and set on 
fire 63 houses which had been lying vacant for about a month because 
most tribesmen had moved to other areas, leaving behind one or two 
members of their families to take care of their belongings. Local 
people said the Tehrik-i-Taliban had 'punished' tribesmen because of 
their refusal to stay on in the village and support them in their 
fight against security forces." 
 
News Story: Time to Directly Hit Militants, Says Mian Iftikhar - 
"The News" (01/05) 
 
"NWFP Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain on Monday said 
that peace in the country could be restored only if all the 
terrorists' organizations and their training centers and dens were 
eliminated, while talking to reporters in Peshawar." 
 
News Story: Seven Terrorists Killed, 2 Arrested In Bajaur Agency - 
"Daily Times" (01/05) 
 
"Security forces destroyed two militant hideouts on Monday killing 7 
and arresting two others in Operation Sherdil in the Bajaur Agency, 
it was reported." 
News Story: Driver Killed As NATO Trailer Ambushed - "The News" 
(01/05) 
 
"Another trailer transporting goods for NATO forces stationed in 
Afghanistan was attacked on Ring Road, Peshawar, resulting into the 
killing of the driver and injuries to the cleaner." 
 
POLITICAL ISSUES 
 
News Story: Top Indian, Pakistani Media Groups Join Hands For Peace 
- "The News" (01/01) 
 
"The turn of the decade brings with it a momentous shot in the arm 
to the moribund Indo-Pak peace process with the unveiling of a grand 
cross-border collaborative peace project. The initiative, titled 
Aman Ki Asha, promises to be a path-breaking collaboration between 
Pakistan's Jang Group and Geo and India's Times of India Group, the 
largest media groups on their respective sides of the border. It 
will look to inject impetus into the Indo-Pak dialogue in a manner 
that is unparalleled, on a scale that is unprecedented. The project 
aims to provide the ultimate mutual platform to debate the major 
sticking points in the hitherto fickle peace dialogue on both sides 
of the border - whether it is Kashmir, the water dispute or 
security. The mission statement is unequivocal, declaring that the 
two groups commit themselves to a movement that will bring the 
people and civil institutions of the two countries closer together 
in fostering an honorable, genuine and durable peace." 
 
News Story: Zardari Breaks 'Siege,' Takes On Opponents  - "Dawn" 
(01/05) 
 
"President Asif Ali Zardari, in a serious move to dispel the 
impression of being a beleaguered head of state, has stepped up his 
public engagements, and on Monday alone he made appearance at three 
places in the city to attend to both official and political matters. 
But even otherwise his participation as the chief guest at the 
Mohatta Palace function, giving a go-ahead to the 
Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas dual carriageway project and meeting PPP's 
parliamentarians, as a diehard PPP activist said, aimed at sending a 
clear message to his opponents that he was determined to fight 
back." 
 
News Story: Nawaz Seeks Trial Of Bugti's Killers - "The News" 
(01/05) 
 
"PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif said on Monday that there was no logic in 
apologizing to the people of Balochistan for the past mistakes 
unless the real issues, including action against the killers of 
Nawab Akbar Bugti and recovery of missing persons, are addressed. 
'If the wounds of the people of Balochistan are to be assuaged then 
social and economic justice must be done,' Nawaz said while talking 
to newsmen soon after his arrival in Quetta after 11 years." 
 
News Story: Nawaz Says Baloch Jirga To Settle PPP-PML-N Row  - 
"Dawn" (01/05) 
 
"Pakistan Muslim League-N Chief Nawaz Sharif has empowered a Baloch 
Jirga, headed by Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani and 
the chief of Jhalawan Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, for removing 
differences between his party and the Pakistan People's Party. 'The 
PML-N will accept whatever verdict the Jirga gives according to 
Baloch traditions and on the basis of justice,' he told Mr. Raisani 
in Quetta on Monday." 
 
News Story: SC Asked Courts, Not NAB, To Reopen NRO Cases  - "The 
News" (01/05) 
 
"An accountability court judge in Rawalpindi on Monday observed that 
the Supreme Court (SC), in its December 16 judgment, had directed 
the trial courts to reopen the cases and not to the National 
Accountability Bureau (NAB). 'We are accordingly examining the cases 
and summoning the accused, and it is the courts to decide whether or 
not the cases to proceed,' the Accountability Court judge observed." 
 
 
News Story: NAB Acts On Its Own Despite SC Verdict - "The News" 
(01/05) 
 
"The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has admitted that the 
pre-NRO situation vis-a-vis President Asif Ali Zardari has not been 
restored and his cases remained closed while there are no freezing 
orders issued regarding his bank accounts and the moveable and 
immovable assets. This is apparently a glaring violation of the 
Supreme Court order but NAB insists that in its legal view the 
president under Article 248 of the Constitution enjoys immunity that 
bars NAB to restore the pre-NRO position in case of Asif Ali 
Zardari." 
 
ECONOMY/ENVIRONMENT 
 
News Story: ADB Wants No CDWP Role in Foreign Funded Projects - "The 
News" (01/05) 
 
"Terming portfolio performance of foreign funded projects in 
Pakistan 'worst' in the region, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has 
asked the government to reduce procedures even by abolishing 
Planning Commission's forum - Central Development Working Party 
(CDWP) - that is authorized to approve projects up to one billion 
rupees. On the other hand, the World Bank (WB) has raised certain 
objections in a presentation given to Prime Minister Syed Yousaf 
Raza Gilani in which it was pointed out that certain flaws existed 
in the processes and procedures involved in approving development 
projects in Pakistan. The WB has recommended the government to 
abandon the existing method and adopt its strategy which was based 
on seven steps for approving projects." 
 
MISCELLANEOUS 
 
News Story: UN Envoy For 'Demilitarized' Approach In Afghanistan - 
"The News" (01/05) 
 
"The international community must demilitarize its overall approach 
in Afghanistan to ensure sustainable gains in the political and 
humanitarian realms, the outgoing UN envoy to the war-torn country 
said on Monday. 'We have to get into a mode where our strategy is 
politically driven and not militarily driven, where the political 
and civilian components become an appendix to a military strategy,' 
Kai Eide, the Secretary-General's Special Rep, said in Kabul, 
according to a news release issued at the UN headquarters in New 
York." 
 
EDITORIALS/OPINIONS 
 
Editorial: Al Qaeda in Yemen, an editorial in the Karachi-based 
center-left independent national English daily "Dawn" (cir. 55,000) 
(01/05) 
 
"Yemen, it appears, is the new Fata, an Al Qaeda base where wicked 
plans to destroy western civilization and overthrow governments are 
being hatched. Or at least that is the gist of some of the more 
hyperbolic commentary since the Christmas Day attempted plane 
bombing in the U.S. was linked to an Al Qaeda offshoot in Yemen.... 
Clearly, Yemen has the type of conditions Al Qaeda would like to 
exploit: high unemployment, serious levels of poverty, water 
shortages, declining oil revenues, a population suspicious of the 
West, a strongman president inclined to support the West on 
occasion, and a secessionist movement in one part of the country and 
a bitter insurgency being fought in another part." 
 
Editorial: Deciphering The Silence Of Friends Of Pakistan, an 
editorial in the country's premier business newspaper, "Business 
Recorder" (cir. 25,000) (01/05) 
 
"Talking to media-men at the signing ceremony of an MoU between PIA 
and PRI to boost the inflow of home remittances on 29th December, 
Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin nearly lost patience over Friends of 
Democratic Pakistan's abject failure in extending the promised 
assistance to the country. Looking desperate, he asked the FoDP to 
clarify whether or not they were providing the pledged assistance to 
Pakistan.... Criticizing the role of the FoDP, he remarked, of 
course with a tinge of sadness, that 'we are not untouchables for 
whom they are using the delaying tactics.'... We would like to 
remind the Finance Minister that in international diplomacy, there 
are certain things which are self-evident but not spoken openly to 
avoid embarrassment. It is not necessary for the donor countries to 
say loudly that they will not be able to meet the commitments made 
earlier because of a change in the domestic or international 
environment. Their silence on the matter should be enough to convey 
the intended message." 
 
Editorial: What's In Store In 2010?, an editorial in the country's 
premier business newspaper, "Business Recorder" (cir. 25,000) 
(01/05) 
 
"As we enter 2010, the Pak-U.S. relationship has arrived at a 
tipping point, where one wrong move can push it over the edge. 
Whatever the findings of the Western think-tanks and analysts, the 
fact remains that the U.S.-led coalition forces cannot win the war 
in Afghanistan without the active and willing co-operation of 
Pakistan. The geopolitics of the region surrounding Pakistan is 
going to remain in ferment, not alone because of the war in 
Afghanistan - there are many other equally important factors that 
impinge upon regional security and balance of power." 
 
Editorial: Respond To India In The Same Tone, an editorial in the 
second-largest, nationalist Urdu daily "Nawa-i-Waqt" (cir. 150,000) 
(01/05) 
 
"Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that the purpose 
behind the Indian Army Chief's statement regarding China and 
Pakistan is to introduce India's military prowess to the region.... 
It was Indian threats and aggressive stance that led Pakistani 
Defense Minister Ahmad Mukhtar to say that Pakistan would be 
compelled to change its conciliatory stance if India does not change 
its attitude.  This is an encouraging statement for the nation. [The 
government must] take a step further and give up this policy of 
reconciliation altogether." 
 
Editorial: Mr. Prime Minister, What Have You Done To Rectify This 
Mistake?, an editorial in the second-largest, nationalist Urdu daily 
"Nawa-i-Waqt" (cir. 150,000) (01/05) 
 
"Talking with journalists, Prime Minister Gillani has said that that 
not implementing the Charter of Democracy is the government's 
biggest mistake and that it should have been implemented the first 
day [in power].... The fact is that repealing the 17th Amendment 
under the Charter of Democracy does not suit either the President or 
the PM. However, whenever there is some pressure from the 
opposition, the PM makes such a statement to appease [the nation]. 
In the present grave situation where the nation is screaming due to 
major issues and good governance is lacking, what hope can there be 
of strengthening democracy with such a non-serious attitude." 
 
Opinion: Whose War Is Being Waged?, an op-ed by Iqbal Akhund in the 
Karachi-based center-left independent national English daily "Dawn" 
(cir. 55,000) (01/05) 
 
"The U.S.-Pakistan relationship, rarely very smooth, is going 
through a particularly bad patch at present. It carries a load of 
past resentments, grievances and disappointments. Paradoxically, the 
more America tries to make amends, talk of a long-term relationship, 
the more it seems to feed suspicions of its intentions at the 
popular level. One is asked, 'Why is America offering money and 
making a fuss over Pakistan now? It must have a purpose of its own!' 
- taking away our nukes; turning Pakistan into a 'secular' country; 
breaking it up altogether. The fact, however, is that the U.S. does, 
at this juncture, wish Pakistan well - not because it sees Pakistan 
as a friend but, on the contrary, because it sees it as a 
potentially dangerous enemy - a country with nuclear weapons and 
technology (that it sold abroad), politically unstable, facing every 
sort of economic and social problem, where a variety of armed and 
radical Tehriks and Lashkars and Jamaats etc, with sympathizers in 
the establishment, have had a free run for years and could get their 
hands on the nuclear weapons." 
 
Opinion: Waziristan War In Critical Stage, an op-ed by Rahimullah 
Yusufzai in the populist, often sensational national English daily 
"The News" (cir. 55,000) (01/05) 
 
"Already suffering from the fall-out of the eight-year-old U.S.-led 
war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, Pakistan is now 
confronted with arguably the most dangerous phase of the seemingly 
endless battle. This is a critical stage also for the future of 
Islamabad's uneasy relationship with Washington.... Pakistan's 
dilemma in these difficult times is hard to explain.... However, 
Pakistan has to pay a huge price for remaining a U.S. ally. At a 
time when public opinion surveys show more than 80 per cent of 
Pakistanis opposing U.S. policies and mentioning it as a bigger 
threat to Pakistan than India, Al Qaeda and Taliban, it cannot be 
easy for any government or military to justify an unpopular alliance 
with America.... It won't be easy for Pakistan to extricate itself 
from a suffocating embrace with the U.S. and even if it were to 
happen, the consequences would be painful." 
 
Opinion: A Zionist Dagger In Pakistan's Western Front, an op-ed by 
Tanweer Qaiser Shahid in the liberal Urdu daily "Express" 
(cir.25,000) (01/05) 
 
"According to the latest reports, several members of the Israeli 
secret service Mossad have spread their tentacles in Afghanistan 
with Indian help. Both Pakistan and Iran could become simultaneous 
targets of Israeli plans and conspiracies.... Israeli presence in 
Afghanistan means that a Zionist dagger has pierced our western 
front...Two major Israeli newspapers printed in Hebrew "Yediot 
Aharonot" and "Maariv" bear witness to the fact that  Mossad and 
the Israeli Foreign Ministry made efforts for formal contact with 
the Taliban rulers [in the late 1990s]. In 1999, "Yediot Aharonot" 
revealed the Afghan-Israeli connection for the first time.... There 
are also reports of the presence of dozens of Israeli citizens in 
Afghanistan's north and north-western provinces. To keep a lid on 
their real Israeli identity, they have been given dual-nationality 
passports. Hence some of them are Israeli-born Britons, some 
Israeli-origin Americans. Israeli activities in Afghanistan are not 
two- or three-pronged, but multifaceted.   Can any good be expected 
of Israel? And that too, in Afghanistan? When will our eyes open?" 
 
Opinion: Economics And Extremism, an op-ed by Shahid Javed Burki in 
the Karachi-based center-left independent national English daily 
"Dawn" (cir. 55,000) (01/05) 
 
"There cannot be any doubt that there is a relationship between poor 
economic performance and the rise of extremism and resort to 
insurgency.... In Pakistan these economic disparities have resulted 
in great violence against the state and the citizens of the country. 
Some of the elements within society have been behind violence mostly 
for ideological, reasons. Insurgency in Pakistan has been caused by 
the merger of several different streams. If we look at the growth of 
extremism in the country we see that it is concentrated in the more 
backward parts of the country." 
 
Opinion: Iran And The West, an op-ed by Javid Husain in the 
center-right national English daily "The Nation" (cir. 20,000) 
(01/05) 
 
"Iran's relations with the U.S. as the leader of the west are likely 
to remain troubled in the foreseeable future, despite the fact that 
President Barack Obama earlier this year extended the hand of 
friendship towards Iran. The main reason is that the U.S. foreign 
policy and security establishment continues to view the Islamic 
Republic of Iran as a major obstacle in the realization of its 
strategic objectives in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf region. 
Those objectives are control over the oil and gas resources of the 
Persian Gulf region, ensuring the security of Israel as the U.S. 
outpost in the heartland of the Middle East, and the preservation of 
regimes which tow the U.S. line on major foreign policy issues." 
 
(All circulation figures are based on estimation) 
Patterson