IN INDIA, OBAMA FACES QUESTIONS ON U.S. RELATIONS WITH PAKISTAN

* "We want nothing more than a stable, prosperous and peaceful Pakistan," Obama told the students gathered in a courtyard of St. Xavier's College to see him. "But I'm also going to say something that may surprise you. The country that has the biggest stake in Pakistan's success is India."
* The Indian public's view of the United States rose after Obama took office. But it has since fallen back to its pre-election level amid a sense here that he has neglected India's interests to curry favor with China and Pakistan, which the student who questioned him wondered why he didn't call "a terrorist state." 

By Scott Wilson

MUMBAI - An audience of Indian college students challenged President Obama on Sunday over his administration's relationship with Pakistan's government, drawing a defensive response and a challenge of his own.

"We want nothing more than a stable, prosperous and peaceful Pakistan," Obama told the students gathered in a courtyard of St. Xavier's College to see him. "But I'm also going to say something that may surprise you. The country that has the biggest stake in Pakistan's success is India."

The town hall event, featuring Obama as a professorial host, was a moment of unscripted public diplomacy as he sought to bridge the divide between two bitter rivals. Not only was Obama forced to explain some of the awkward elements of U.S. policy in South Asia, from support for Pakistan to his end game in Afghanistan, but he also provided a rare glimpse at the way he approaches his work.

Encounters with young people have become staples of Obama's travels abroad, a nod to his appeal as a symbol of U.S. progress and tolerance. And in few countries will young people make more of a difference in the short term than here.

More than half of India's 1.2 billion people are under 30 years old, a promising market for U.S. goods and the foundation of a workforce driving the country's technical innovation.

The Indian public's view of the United States rose after Obama took office. But it has since fallen back to its pre-election level amid a sense here that he has neglected India's interests to curry favor with China and Pakistan, which the student who questioned him wondered why he didn't call "a terrorist state."

Some in the student audience seemed well aware of his political troubles at home.

Zenobia Rao, a 19-year-old chemistry student at St. Xavier's, was asked by her professor to attend the event. She said she was "more than honored" to do so.

"He's a good president, but he has bad timing," Rao said, referring to the dismal state of the American economy when he took office and its troubles today.

"Things don't change overnight," she continued. "There are highs and lows." Rao, the daughter of a pharmaceutical executive and a housewife, placed more of the onus for America's problems on the American consumer than Obama.

India endured the global downturn far better than the United States, she said, because far fewer of its people rely on credit in their daily lives.

"That's the value system I was brought up on," she said. "Presidents come and presidents go. But the people must change."

After a day of talking trade and sales contracts, Obama and the first lady, Michelle, devoted their last morning in Mumbai to celebrating Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.

In short, their morning of public diplomacy involved dancing. At the Holy Name High School in an affluent Mumbai neighborhood, Obama and the first lady surveyed a series of student projects on global warming and green villages.

Then the fun began. The first couple entered an auditorium decorated with flowered wreaths and strings of lights. Children in vibrantly colored, traditional Indian clothes handed them candles, which the used to light the Diwali altar. Then they sat back for a display of tightly choreographed dancing, which drew praise from the president.

When the kids beckoned the Obamas to join them, only the first lady jumped up and quickly learned the elaborate movements. The president joined her soon after, but did not prove to be the same quick study.

"To those of you who saw Michelle dancing - she was moving," Obama later told the students at the town hall.

St. Xavier's College sits in the colonial center of Mumbai, a 140-year-old Gothic campus of high green-stone walls and arched windows shaded by palms.

Hours before Obama's appearance, a line of students stretched along one of Mumbai's wide downtown avenues cleared of traffic for the visit. The morning warmed, and only the cool provided by the large-leafed trees saved the students from the sun.

Once inside, students took seats around a stage at the center of a large courtyard formed by the interior walls of the school. Shade was scarce, but large fans blew toward the center of the courtyard, where Obama took the stage, his white shirt open at the neck and sleeves rolled up.

"King and Gandhi made it possible for us to be here today - me as a president, you as a model of progress," Obama told them.

Citing the large percentage of India's population under 30, Obama said, "That's an extraordinary statistic and one that holds enormous possibility."

The first student asked Obama for his definition of jihad, the Muslim concept of struggle, and he used it to call for religious tolerance.

"One of the challenges we face is how do we isolate those who have these distorted notions of religious war," he said. "That's a major challenge, not only here in India but around the world."

Asked about how he would change after the midterm election results, Obama acknowledged that they will "require me to make some mid-course corrections and adjustments," which he said would come after consultation with Republican leaders.

"I do think one of the challenges that we will face is how we will respond to globalization," he said, "I think there is going to be a tug of war within the United States between those who see globalization as a threat and want to retrench and those who see it as opportunity," acknowledging that the debate might be sharpest within his own party.

But the students also had more philosophical questions and concerns. One young man asked how government could "triumph over materialistic values."

And a young woman noted how Obama frequently cites India's independence hero Mahatma Gandhi in his speeches, asking how he employs Gandhi's principles in his everyday life.

Under the searing sun, Obama paused before answering. He said he is "constantly studying" the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln and Gandhi.

"And I find myself falling woefully short all the time," he said. "But I do think at my best what I am trying to do is apply principles that fundamentally come down to something shared in all the world's religions - to see yourself in all individuals."


@ The Washington Post

Watch video President answers tough question on Pakistan