North Indian obsession

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

What appears an obsessive relationship with Pakistan and President Pervez Musharraf, may just be a uniquely north Indian phenomenon. While Hindi language newspapers have covered Musharraf's book in great detail, and the Indian reaction to it, the book has by and large been ignored by the non-English language press in south India.

In the north, Dainik Bhaskar had stories based on the release of In the Line of Fire on its front page for several days running. On one day, it had a story on Musharraf's interview with CNN, where he said the media had distorted his statements on the Al Qaeda prisoners. The previous day, the paper had a front page story on the new line being given by President Musharraf. And the day before, there was a front page anchor on Musharraf's statement that the US had threatened to bomb Pakistan if it did not cooperate in its war on terror.

Punjab Kesri had an eloquent headline on page one which said "Musharraf apnein mian mitthoo, phir bhi hain Manmohan latoo" (Musharraf is praising himself and yet Manmohan Singh is ga ga over him). The story began by saying that everyone, including the US, thought that Musharraf was treacherous, but Manmohan Singh still thought otherwise. Both Kesri and Rajasthan Patrika had stories on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee reacting to Musharraf's statements by saying that neither he nor Musharraf had been insulted at the Agra summit. Both Kesri and Rajasthan Patrika had editorials criticising Musharraf.

In Tamil Nadu, the news and reactions by several leaders didn't hit the front pages of leading Tamil daily Dinamalar.

However, the daily carried reports on BJP president Rajnath Singh's reactions to Musharraf's remarks about the Kargil War, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's reactions on the Agra Summit failure and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee's reactions on inside pages.

The Kannada press largely ignored the news. All the leading dailies Vijaya Karnataka, Praja Vani and Kannada Prabha carried the news on the inside pages. There were no editorials or special reports on the subject. However, all the newspapers prominently displayed Musharraf's photo along with the news reports.