Analysis: Monitorial Observation on Pakistani State Media on Results of UBL Search

FYI: Monitorial Observation on Pakistani State Media's Non-Mention of Results of Search for Usama Bin Ladin

(FBIS Report) Pakistan's state-run electronic media--Islamabad Pakistan TV 1 (PTV 1), Islamabad PTV World, and Islamabad Radio Pakistan--have not been observed to report the recent remarks by Maj Gen Niaz Khatak, the army field commander in the tribal region of South Waziristan, that no evidence has been found of the presence of either Usama Bin Ladin or other senior Al-Qa'ida leader during the military's nine-month search in that area.

PTV 1 and Radio Pakistan did not report the commander's briefing at all. PTV World reported the briefing on 13 November, the day it was held, but omitted the reference to Bin Ladin and other Al-Qa'ida leaders, focusing instead on the commander's claim that "we have total control over the areas which are inhabited by Wazir tribes" and that "a huge cache of arms and ammunition" was recovered.

The failure of the controlled electronic media--outlets reaching the largest audience in Pakistan--to publicize the commander's statement on the unsuccessful effort to locate Bin Ladin or other Al-Qa'ida leaders contrasts with the airing those remarks received by Pakistan's private electronic and print media.

-- On 13 November, Dubayy Geo TV, a privately owned Urdu-language satellite channel, carried a detailed report on the briefing. That report quoted Khatak as saying that "in the operation, which has been going on in this area since March, there has been no evidence; no sign found at all till now that Usama Bin Ladin or Al-Qa'ida's first- or second-line leadership was present in this area."

-- On 14 November, Pakistan's major private English and Urdu-language newspapers, with the exception of Rawalpindi Jang in Urdu and Karachi Dawn in English, published reports on the briefing that included Khatak's remarks on the negative results so far in the army's effort to locate Bin Ladin and other Al-Qa'ida leaders in the tribal region.