indian on wikileaks

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Turn autoplay off Turn autoplay on Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off * Jump to content * Jump to site navigation [0] * Jump to search [4] * Terms and conditions [8] Mobile site Sign in Register Text larger smaller About us * About us * Contact us * Press office * Guardian Print Centre * Guardian readers' editor * Observer readers' editor * Terms of service * Privacy policy * Advertising guide * Digital archive * Digital edition * Guardian Weekly * Buy Guardian and Observer photos * Subscribe Today's paper * The Guardian * G2 features * Comment and debate * Editorials, letters and corrections * Obituaries * Other lives * Sport * Subscribe Zeitgeist * Today's hot topics guardian.co.uk home * News * Sport * Comment * Culture * Business * Money * Life & style * Travel * Environment * TV * Video * Community * Offers * Jobs * News * World news * Pakistan The US embassy cables Pakistani media publish fake WikiLeaks cables attacking India Comments alleged to be from WikiLeaks US embassy cables say Indian generals are genocidal and New Delhi backs militants * o o Share o Reddit o Buzz up * Declan Walsh in Islamabad * guardian.co.uk, Thursday 9 December 2010 16.29 GMT * larger | smaller * Article history Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari with army chief General Ashfaq Kayani. Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari with army chief General Ashfaq Kayani. Pakistani newspapers have written much about Zardari's preoccupation with death but little about the army. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images They read like the most extraordinary revelations. Citing the WikiLeaks cables, major Pakistani newspapers this morning carried stories that purported to detail eye-popping American assessments of India's military and civilian leaders. According to the reports, US diplomats described senior Indian generals as vain, egotistical and genocidal; they said India's government is secretly allied with Hindu fundamentalists; and they claimed Indian spies are covertly supporting Islamist militants in Pakistan's tribal belt and Balochistan. "Enough evidence of Indian involvement in Waziristan, Balochistan," read the front-page story in the News; an almost identical story appeared in the Urdu-language Jang, Pakistan's bestselling daily. If accurate, the disclosures would confirm the worst fears of Pakistani nationalist hawks and threaten relations between Washington and New Delhi. But they are not accurate. An extensive search of the WikiLeaks database by the Guardian by date, name and keyword failed to locate any of the incendiary allegations. It suggests this is the first case of WikiLeaks being exploited for propaganda purposes. The controversial claims, published in four Pakistani national papers, were credited to the Online Agency, an Islamabad-based news service that has frequently run pro-army stories in the past. No journalist is bylined. Shaheen Sehbai, group editor at the News, described the story as "agencies' copy" and said he would investigate its origins. The incident fits in with the wider Pakistani reaction to WikiLeaks since the first cables emerged. In the west, reports have focused on US worries for the safety of Pakistan's nuclear stockpile, or the army's support for Islamist militants such as the Afghan Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group blamed for the Mumbai attack. But Pakistan's media has given a wide berth to stories casting the military in a negative light, focusing instead on the foibles of the country's notoriously weak politicians. Editors have pushed stories that focus on president Asif Ali Zardari's preoccupation with his death, prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's secret support for CIA drone strikes and tales of a bearded religious firebrand cosying up to the US ambassador. Among ordinary citizens, the coverage has hardened perceptions that Pakistani leaders are in thrall to American power. Pakistan has become "the world's biggest banana republic", wrote retired diplomat Asif Ezdi last week. Military and political leaders, portrayed as dangerously divided in the cables, have banded together to downplay the assessment. "Don't trust WikiLeaks," Gilani told reporters in Kabul last weekend. Beside him president Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, also tarred in the dispatches, nodded solemnly. On Saturday the army, having stayed silent all week, denied claims that army chief General Ashfaq Kayani "distrusted" the opposition leader Nawaz Sharif. Kayani "holds all political leaders in esteem", a spokesman said. Meanwhile conspiracy theorists, including some journalists, insist Washington secretly leaked the cables in an effort to discredit the Muslim world; the Saudi ambassador described them as propaganda. But senior judges favour their publication. Dismissing an attempt to block WikiLeaks last week, justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed said the cables "may cause trouble for some personalities" but would be "good for the progress of the nation in the long run". The lopsided media coverage highlights the strong influence of Pakistan's army over an otherwise vigorous free press. This morning's stories disparaging Indian generals one is said to be "rather a geek", another to be responsible for "genocide" and compared to Slobodan Milosevic is counterbalanced by accounts of gushing American praise for Pakistan's top generals. The actual WikiLeaks cables carry a more nuanced portraits of a close, if often uneasy, relationship between the US and Pakistan's military. But the real cables do contain allegations of Indian support for Baloch separatists, largely sourced to British intelligence assessments. Pakistan's press is generally cautious in reporting about its own army. But some internet commentators said the latest WikiLeaks story was a bridge too far. Noting that the story was bylined to "agencies" a term that in Pakistan means both a news agency and a spy outfit the blogger Cafe Pyala asked: "How stupid do the 'Agencies' really think Pakistanis are?" * Print thisPrintable version * Send to a friend * Share * Clip * Contact us * larger | smaller World news * Pakistan * India * The US embassy cables * United States * US politics * CIA * US foreign policy * Global terrorism * Taliban * Asif Ali Zardari * Afghanistan * Mumbai terror attacks * Hamid Karzai Media * WikiLeaks * Newspapers * Newspapers & magazines More news * More on the US embassy cables * MDG: Shell in Nigeria Shell's grip on Nigerian state revealed US embassy cables reveal top executive's claims that company 'knows everything' about key decisions in government ministries * WikiLeaks US embassy cables: live updates * Oil giants squeeze Chvez as Venezuela struggles * WikiLeaks cables dismiss Hugo Chvez's nuclear ambitions * Whitehall told US to ignore Brown's Trident statement * WikiLeaks cables reveal secret plan to push Mugabe out in Zimbabwe * Consult us before using intelligence to commit war crimes, US tells Uganda * WikiLeaks cables reveal differing views of 'crazy', 'charming' Robert Mugabe * WikiLeaks cables paint ANC youth leader as potential kingmaker * Rampant corruption 'could push Kenya back into violence' * Eritrean poverty and patriotism under 'unhinged dictator' * Pigs under the wing keep ambassador grounded Related * 30 Nov 2010 WikiLeaks cables: 'US aid will not stop Pakistan supporting militants' * 3 Dec 2010 WikiLeaks US embassy cables: live updates * 30 Nov 2010 US embassy cables: Punjab, ISI and a distracted president trouble Pakistan * 1 Dec 2010 WikiLeaks cables, day 3: summary of today's key points * Print thisPrintable version * Send to a friend * Share * Clip * Contact us * Article history On World news * Most viewed * Zeitgeist * Latest Last 24 hours 1. 1. 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All today's stories Our correspondents on Twitter Follow all the top stories of the day on Twitter with the Guardian's world news team Auto update every minute On | Off * suzyji suzyji: Small-ish crowd for Bolivia's Evo Morales #Cancun Will Venezuela get better turn-out in a few hours? #cop16 #eg about 2 minutes ago * john_hooper john_hooper: #Economist correspondent on #Fini, #Berlusconi and a great deal of confusion #Italy's politics http://ow.ly/3mEXP about 4 minutes ago * declanwalsh declanwalsh: The genocidal generals: fake Wikileaks stories in the Pak media http://bit.ly/g8XPHt about 14 minutes ago Read more tweets from our foreign news team Follow all our correspondents on a Twitter list Bestsellers from the Guardian shop * Ken Burns' American Civil War / The West * Ken Burns' American Civil War / The West * Buy both DVD sets together and Save 64 off RRP. * From: 35.98 * Visit the Guardian reader offers shop * Green & ethical shopping at Guardian ecostore Latest news on guardian.co.uk Last updated less than one minute ago * News MPs vote to increase tuition fees cap to 9,000 Guardian Bookshop This week's bestsellers 1. 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QuiBids.com * Sharp Solar Cells Leading the world with an energy conversion efficiency of 35.8% sharp-solar.com Related information Media * WikiLeaks * Newspapers * Newspapers & magazines World news * Pakistan * India * The US embassy cables * United States * US politics * CIA * US foreign policy * Global terrorism * Taliban * Asif Ali Zardari * Afghanistan * Mumbai terror attacks * Hamid Karzai Amazon.com worker David Brendoff WikiLeaks US embassy cables: live updates 1 Dec 2010 Follow all reaction as the latest leaks of US embassy cables reveal criticism of David Cameron and George Osborne by the Bank of England governor Mervyn King. * 2 Dec 2010 WikiLeaks US embassy cables: live updates * 29 Nov 2010 WikiLeaks US embassy cables: as it happened * 2 Dec 2010 WikiLeaks cables, day 4: summary of today's key points * 1 Dec 2010 WikiLeaks cables: Pakistan opposition 'tipped off' Mumbai terror group Should WikiLeaks' Julian Assange be tried for espionage? 1 Dec 2010 As the WikiLeaks embassy cables leaks continue to cause controversy, some are calling for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be arrested for spying. 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Contact us Close * Report errors or inaccuracies: [email protected] * Letters for publication should be sent to: [email protected] * If you need help using the site: [email protected] * Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 * o Advertising guide o License/buy our content Email Close Recipient's email address Your first name Your surname Add a note (optional) Your IP address will be logged Share Close Short link for this page: http://gu.com/p/2yymq * Digg * reddit * Google Bookmarks * Twitter * del.icio.us * StumbleUpon * Newsvine * livejournal * Facebook * Mixx it! Contact us Close * Report errors or inaccuracies: [email protected] * Letters for publication should be sent to: [email protected] * If you need help using the site: [email protected] * Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: +44 (0)20 3353 2000 * o Advertising guide o License/buy our content About this article Close Pakistani media publish fake WikiLeaks cables attacking India This article was published on guardian.co.uk at 16.29 GMT on Thursday 9 December 2010. A version appeared in the Guardian on Friday 10 December 2010.