Obama’s Nobel puzzles Pakistanis

While US President Barack ObamaBarack Obama is seen as an improvement over former president George BushGeorge Bush, many Pakistanis feel the president has not done enough to merit the peace prize, the Chicago Tribune has reported.

Pakistanis are still wary of Obama and his policies. For they, Obama represents a marked improvement over his predecessor Bush. He believes in tackling world problems through consensus-building rather than unilateral action, they say.

But the way many Pakistanis see it does not mean he has done nearly enough to deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.

“Maybe if you compare him to Bush, you can say Obama is a bit better when it comes to dealing with Muslim countries,” said Ajmal Khan, a 55-year-old mechanical engineer in Islamabad. “Otherwise, I do not think he deserves the peace prize. Has he done anything special to bring peace to the world? Killing goes on in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and in other countries.”

Pakistanis still have not fully made up their mind about Obama. When they compare him to Bush, they like that he has reached out to the Muslim community and appears genuinely interested in what other world players have to say.

But Pakistanis still are wary of Obama and his policies toward their part of the world. They worry Obama won’t solve the conflict in Afghanistan, an eight-year war on Pakistan’s doorstep.

“If the category is peace, he doesn’t deserve the peace prize,” says Nadeem, 49, a salesman at a clothing store at Jinnah Super Market, Islamabad. “The situation keeps getting worse in Pakistan and Afghanistan. I think he got the prize because he is a powerful man, that’s all.”