Anger in Pakistan over Obama peace prize

[joeblow]

Anger in Pakistan over Obama peace prize
Fri, 11 Dec 2009 07:01:21 GMT

http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=1 ... =351020401



Obama says he received the prize with "great humility."

Critics in Pakistan and Afghanistan have questioned the wisdom of giving a Noble Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama who is blamed for the recent surge in violence there.

Independently conducted polls show that there was widespread anger and resentment following the prize giving ceremony in troubled parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan, where many blame Washington for instability in the region.

Obama formally received his prize on the same day when hundreds of Afghans took to the streets of the capital Kabul to protest a Monday US-led airstrike which killed a number of civilians in the war-ravaged country.

"The Nobel Prize is for those who have made achievements, but Obama is a killer,"AFP quoted a Pakistani engineer living in the shadow of bomb attacks in Pakistan's city of Peshawar as saying.

"He is the president of a country which has a history of Bloodshed and rises to a quarrel. How was he selected for this prize?" said a Pakistani intellectual.

The anger came after Obama ordered 33,000 additional troops into the war zone in Afghanistan, while there is deep suspicion of American motives in neighboring Pakistan.

"Everybody knows the presence of the American army in this region is the root cause of the problems. People are dying in Afghanistan, Pakistan and in Iraq because of Obama's policies," another intellectual said.

Pakistani Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani said in late November that Washington's decision to send thousands of extra troops to Afghanistan may destabilize his country.

Gilani, in an Islamabad interview with DPA, said in that an increase in US troops in Afghanistan is likely to lead to a spill over of militants inside Pakistan.

Hundreds of militants fled into the country after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan began eight years ago.

Moreover, US drone strikes have enraged locals who say the attacks kill civilians and violate the nation's sovereignty.

The purported aim of the American air strikes is to 'surgically' target militants. But Pakistani media outlets report the raids generally kill civilians.

Use of drones has increased since Obama became president. The Nobel Peace Laureate has repeatedly vowed to expand the controversial strikes that have raised anti-US sentiments across Pakistan.

This is while a New York Times report in December revealed that the administration of President Barack Obama has also authorized an expansion of drone attacks on Pakistan's troubled tribal regions.

Pakistani officials later opposed the expansion of drone attacks in the country's tribal areas, as well as strikes on Baluchistan, where the US claims Taliban leaders are hiding.

The unpopular strikes were initiated under the 'administration' of George W. Bush in 2006.

JR/MTM/DT