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Pakistani media blasts Sharief's government

The Nawaz Sharief government has come under sharp attack from the Pakistani media for its Kargil adventure, which has been described as "ill-conceived" and has led to the diplomatic isolation of Islamabad.

"That the Kargil adventure was ill-conceived, if not downright foolish, is becoming clear, albeit slowly, even to the congenitally blind and benighted," said an article published in the daily Dawn.

Referring to the joint statement issued in Washington after the meeting Sharief had with US President Bill Clinton on the Kargil issue, Ayaz Amir wrote in the paper: "A more complete negation of Pakistan's stand and a more complete vindication of India's position is hard to envisage."

He continues: "Pakistan has suffered failure of leadership, a failure of vision and most importantly failure of nerve... The politico-military leadership could not take a decision."

Commenting on Sharief's hurried visits to Beijing and Washington, The Frontier Post said in its editorial today: "We have lost a lot of prestige by expecting the Chinese and the Americans to extricate us from the troubles that the present unthinking leaders have created."

Acknowleding the endorsement received by New Delhi on the Kargil conflict from the international community, the paper commented: "It is not just the Americans, other Western powers too have placed the onus on Pakistan for de-escalation."

"We are now getting extremely depressing reports from Western media sources that the Chinese too have expressed their misgivings about Pakistan's role in the current fighting along the LoC."

The editorial severely criticised the Sharief government for not taking the nation into confidence as to how the Chinese have responded to the developments in Kargil.

"The Indians have won a diplomatic war against Pakistan... in the coming days we are bound to see tougher tests," it said.

The Pakistan Observer in its editorial expressed concern over reports of differences between the vital institutions of the State with regard to the Clinton-Sharief joint statement on Kargil.

"The national press presents the nation as totally divided on the issue with conflicting versions attributing divergent political and military motives to the government's undertakings in accordance with the Washington accord," it said.

"The nation was not prepared for the prime minister's commitment with President Clinton to withdraw the mujahideen from the Kargil heights," it said.

UNI

The Kargil Crisis

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