Obama’s India trip splashed across Pakistani media

ISLAMABAD - Barack Obama’s four-day India visit received massive coverage in the Pakistani media which highlighted the US president asking India to bolster peace efforts with Pakistan.

The Daily Jang said: “Obama urges India to work for peace with Pakistan while cautioning Pakistan that the pace of steps taken for curbing terrorism need to be expedited.”

“Be a good neighbour, Obama tells India”, screamed the headline of Dawn newspaper.

“President Obama used the meeting with students in Mumbai Sunday to teach them the lesson of joy in being a good neighbour,” it said while referring to Obama’s interaction with students of Mumbai’s St. Xavier’s College.

A headline in The Nation was blunt: “Carrots for India, sticks for Pakistan”.

The News said: “Obama called on India to bolster the peace efforts with Pakistan that started to flounder in 2008 after the Mumbai attacks.”

At least 166 people were killed in the November 2008 Mumbai terror attack when 10 gunmen from Pakistan sneaked into India’s financial capital and let loose a reign of terror.

Obama and his wife Michelle’s dance moves also got rave reviews in the local media and were seen “as an effort to promote ties with India at all costs”.

“It is evident that the Obamas are willing to go the extra mile and give an informal touch to the official engagements,” said daily Khabrain.

“Islamabad and New Delhi start resolving the smaller issues before moving on to the more contentious issues,” said Nawa-i-Waqt, adding that “Mumbai attacks also had a damaging impact on Pakistan”.

(Awais Saleem can be contacted at ians.pakistan@gmail.com)