Majority of Pakistanis still consider India a threat: Poll

Though terror groups continue to strike in their country, a majority of Pakistanis still consider India as a major threat, view America as an enemy and are far less concerned about Taliban and al-Qaeda.

While Pakistanis express serious concerns about the US, they have also deep worries about neighbour and longtime rival India than extremist groups within Pakistan, according to the Pew Research Centre opinion poll carried out in Pakistan.

"When asked which is the greatest threat to their country - India, the Taliban or al-Qaeda - slightly more than half of Pakistanis (53%) choose India, compared with 23% for Taliban and just 3% for al-Qaeda," it said.

However, despite the deep-seated tensions between India and Pakistan, most Pakistanis want better ties with India.

Roughly seven-in-ten (72%) said it is important for relations with India to improve and about three-quarters support increased trade with India and further talks between the two rivals, it said.

Inspite of pumping in billions of dollars in economic and military aid, the US image in Pakistan was at its lowest ever among the 22 nations included in the poll. Fifty-nine percent of the respondents described America as an enemy and only 8% trusted president Barack Obama.

The Pakistanis saw little threat from Taliban and al-Qaeda and only 25% of the people said it would be bad for Islamabad if Taliban takes over again Afghanistan.

While 18% said it would be good for Pakistan 57% were not concerned.

State department spokesperson PJ Crowley conceded that there is a huge trust deficit between the US and Pakistan.

"We understand, and the secretary (of state) in her recent trip and also in her trip last October understands that there's a deficit of trust in our relationship. There are those in Pakistan who recall and sense that they were abandoned by the US and the international community, going back 20 years or more," he said.

Crowley said the US has worked hard in recent months to try to turn this relationship around.

"I think we recognise that this was not going to occur overnight. We have tried to communicate forcefully to not only the government, but also to the people directly, that the US is committed to the future of Pakistan," he said.

"We are, in fact, a partner. I think we're not surprised that people want to see fruits of this partnership; that's exactly what we're trying to do. It goes back to what the secretary announced in Islamabad last week, concrete projects on energy, health, education that will create tangible results so the people of Pakistan can see it. And when they see it, then we would expect to see those poll numbers prospectively improve," he said.