US embassy cable - 05ISLAMABAD16473

C O N F I D E N T I A L ISLAMABAD 016473 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/01/2015 
TAGS: AEMR, ASEC, EAID, MASS, PGOV, PREL, PK, PAS, Earthquake 
SUBJECT: PAKISTAN EARTHQUAKE: CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF 
AMERICA 
 
 
Classified By: DCM Patricia Butenis, derived from DSCG 05-01, b and d 
 
1. (C) The isolation of many areas impacted by the October 8 
earthquake has long afforded Islamist politicians and 
conservative religious clerics an uncritical audience for 
their at times extremist worldviews, in which America (or the 
West) as enemy of Islam featured prominently.  Anecdotal 
evidence suggests that prominent American and other Western 
assistance to earthquake victims is chipping away at the 
heretofore unquestioned acceptance of this worldview and may 
be isolating its proponents on the ground.  According to 
civil society contacts, the presence of international relief 
workers is uniformly welcomed in these areas.  Anti-American 
or anti-Western sentiment has largely been abandoned in the 
face of overwhelming need. 
 
2. (SBU) Contacts report that a handful of extremist clergy 
have attempted to thwart this pervasive change in attitude 
towards outsiders.  In some villages, religious leaders have 
spoken against accepting aid from any source other than 
Islamic donors and have pressed GOP, military, and private 
Pakistani NGOs to refuse supplies donated by the West.  Their 
entreaties have been ignored.  Even the Islamist party 
Jamaat-e-Islami and the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (the parent 
organization of designated foreign terrorist organziation 
Lashkar-e-Tayyaba) have gratefully accepted supplies for 
their relief camps from whatever the source.  A few stories 
of religious leaders going even further have emerged.  In one 
case, a local cleric railed against accepting American relief 
goods that had recently arrived in the village by U.S. 
military helicopter.  He then attempted to place himself 
between villagers and the much needed supplies.  NGO sources 
reported that his own followers removed him, thrashed him, 
and then began to distribute the supplies to appreciative 
villagers. 
 
3. (C) During recent iftar dinners with civil society and NGO 
representatives, poloff inquired whether this change in 
attitude would endure after relief and reconstruction efforts 
cease.  The view on NWFP districts was mixed.  Some felt the 
assistance provided would be remembered, particularly if the 
USG actively engages in reconstruction of important community 
institutions like schools or health centers.  Others argued 
that cultural/religious traditions in this part of the NWFP 
mandated subservience to religious leaders.  Ignoring such 
leaders in a crisis was possible, but over the long term, 
clerics would reestablish their firm grip on public opinion. 
In Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK), all interlocuters believed that 
the changes were irreversible.  They attributed the clerics' 
hold on AJK to the area's isolation from the rest of 
Pakistan; the region's military sensitivity led the GOP to 
limit travel to AJK by foreigners and Pakistanis alike.  Due 
to the earthquake, the military had opened the floodgates to 
facilitate relief and reconstruction.  Shutting them again 
would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. 
 
4. (C) Comment:  The anecdotal evidence available suggests 
that public perception of the USG in the earthquake-impacted 
areas is changing for the better.  The endurance of this 
shift in public opinion will largely be determined by the 
durability of American engagement through the reconstruction 
phase and the success of such reconstruction in more firmly 
tying these previously isolated regions to Pakistan. 
CROCKER