12 May,2009 06:18 PM IST | | PTI
As many as 42 per cent Pakistanis - nearly every other citizen of the country - hold India responsible for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, according to a new opinion poll.
"When asked if they believed it to be true that the attacks were carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), only seven per cent replied yes, another seven per cent replied maybe, and 78 percent said no.
In response to an open-ended question as to who they thought was responsible for the attacks, the top three replies were India (42 per cent), I don't know (33 per cent), and America (20 per cent)," the International Republican Institute (IRI) said in a release.
The Washington-based IRI, which describes itself as a nonprofit, non-partisan organisation, conducted the poll March 7-30 and released the findings in Islamabad on Monday.
ALSO READ
26/11 survivor calls for concerted action to combat scourge as victims honoured
'Mumbai attacks embody scope of warfare India had to mount against terrorists'
Extradition hearing for 26/11 accused Tahawwur Rana on Feb 12
Pakistan court temporarily halts 26/11 Mumbai attack case hearing
India can't prove my role in 26/11 Mumbai attacks: Hafiz Saeed
The randomly selected sample consists of 3,500 adult men and women from 216 rural and 134 urban locations in 51 districts in all four provinces of Pakistan, it said.
Asked what if it was proven that the LeT was behind the Mumbai mayhem, five per cent said that those responsible should be turned over to India, while 82 per cent said that they should be tried and punished in Pakistan. Seven per cent preferred not to reply.
Pakistanis are opposed, however, to LeT, Al Qaeda and other terrorist outfits using their country as a base to launch attacks against India, with 79 per cent saying that it would be a serious problem and 17 per cent saying that it would not be, according to the poll findings.
As many as 43 per cent respondents had a favourable opinion of LeT and 46 per cent said they had an "unfavorable opinion" of it.
"These numbers were in the same range of those regarding the image of India, with 45 per cent having a favorable opinion of the country and 52 per cent having an unfavorable perception," the IRI said.
The survey found that though only 10 per cent of respondents cited terrorism as the most important issue - a majority said economy was the most important issue - there is rising concern over extremism in general.
Asked if they felt religious extremism was a serious problem in Pakistan, 74 percent replied yes - the highest percentage since September 2007.
As many as 69 per cent agreed that the Taliban and Al Qaeda operating in Pakistan was a serious problem, while 45 per cent said that they supported the Pakistani Army fighting the extremists in the North West Frontier Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, another all-time high, according to the IRI.
Asked if they felt that the country was headed in the right or wrong direction, 81 percent responded wrong direction while 18 per cent said right direction - a slight improvement from the October 2008 poll.
