Islamabad: Sections of Pakistani media today (Feb 14, 2007)accused their government of being 'alarmist' in its Baglihar Dam dispute withIndia and engaging in 'obfuscation' of World Bank verdict details whileattempting 'media management'.

Newspaper editorials also commended the 'accommodation'shown by both governments once the dispute was sent for arbitration and urgedthem to show the same spirit on other disputes as well.

"Unless 'nuclear powers' Indiaand Pakistan develop afriendly working relationship, the coming years will bring more tension andconflict, dwarfing the old Kashmirdispute," warned the Lahore-based Daily Times.

Commending willingness of the neighbours that have been atloggerheads, among other issues over Kashmir, an editorial in The News said,:"There is one distinct positive thing to have emerged from this wholeaffair - and that is the fact that for a change the two countries have managedto settle a dispute between them without going to war against each other and ina relatively short period of time (it took six years for this to reach aconclusion but Kashmir has been there for sixty years)."

"This willingness to resolve issues instead of continuedhostility and confrontation should be shown in other areas of dispute aswell," it said.

Commenting on the Kashmir issue, The News added, "Ofcourse, both governments may well be playing politics over the issue too,particularly because it relates to a region  Kashmir  that is disputed and anissue -sharing the waters of the Indus  thatis hotly contested. However, one thing that can be said for sure from theruling is that the sounding of the victory bugle, simultaneously in Islamabad and New Delhi, at least typifies the communication gap betweenthe two."

The Nation said: "It is evident that had Pakistan woken up at the time India began the work and formallyraised objections, it should have been able to convince the expert that the damcould not be constructed at all."

The Daily Times editorial titled "Baglihar Dam and our'lower riparian alarmism'" said the verdict given by neutral expert,Raymond Lafayitt had "mostly gone in India's favour", and it was"not surprising" that Pakistan claimed 'victory'.

"For Pakistanminister for Water and Power Liaqat Jatoi to claim that Lafayitt had foundfault with India'sdesign of the Baglihar Dam and analysis was 'incorrect' and showed that theobfuscation has clearly crept into the media management," the editorialsaid.

"A glance at what India has said about the World Bankdecision seems to point to panic buttons being pressed on the Pakistani side.The Baglihar Dam is essentially on line and the changes recommended by theexpert are only minor in nature," it observed.

"So the fact is that Islamabad, no matter how it looksat the World Bank verdict, cannot claim victory, if only because its objectionto the spillway gates has been set aside. While there is no harm in claimingvictory - which purports to convey to the people of Pakistanthat Indiahas been once again defeated - it would be a mistake not to learn all thelessons embedded in the water dispute and its final denouement," The DailyTimes said.