Thaindian News

Washington, June 22 (IANS) Pakistanis and Indians don’t view each other favourably, yet despite the visible hostility between the two neighbours, a large majority of people on both sides of the border want to improve relations.

Pakistanis continue to see India in a bad light with a new poll saying that views have gotten more negative about their arch rivals over the past five years.

Only 14 percent of Pakistanis view India in a favourable light. Fiftyfour percent consider India to be a serious threat to Pakistan over Taliban (34 percent) and Al Qaeda (29 percent), according to a poll released Tuesday by the Pew Research Centre.

Likewise, Indian attitudes toward Pakistan are generally negative - 65 percent express an unfavourable opinion of Pakistan and a plurality considers Pakistan the greatest threat to their country.

Despite the tensions, Pakistanis and Indians agree that it is important to improve relations between the two nations, the poll notes. People in both countries are supportive of additional diplomatic talks and stronger trade ties across the border.

Pakistani views of India are considerably more negative than those in other Asian countries surveyed, although more than half (53 percent) of Chinese also have an unfavourable opinion of India, the Pew poll noted.

By comparison, India is much better regarded in Indonesia and Japan, where roughly six-in-ten (61 percent and 59 percent, respectively) have a favourable view of the country.

Suggesting that at the crux of tensions between India and Pakistan lies the Kashmir dispute, the poll noted nearly three-fourths (73 percent) of Pakistanis consider the Kashmir dispute a very big problem.

Majorities in both countries think it is important to find a resolution to the Kashmir issue, but Pakistanis are more likely than Indians to give this issue high salience (80 percent vs 66 percent very important).

Majorities of Pakistanis across age, education and ethnic groups agree that resolving this issue is very important.

Pakistanis are considerably less likely than Indians to see American policies in the region as fair toward both countries. Only 9 percent of Pakistanis see the US approach in the sub-continent as fair, while more than half (52 percent) say US policies favour India.

Only 6 percent believe that US policies favour Pakistan. Solid majorities of Punjab residents (63 percent) and PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz Sharif) supporters (69 percent) believe that American policies are biased in favour of India.

Indians are more divided on this issue. Nearly three-in-ten (27 percent) say that US policies in the region are balanced, while a similar proportion (29 percent) believes that the US favours India. Only 13 percent say that Pakistan garners greater favour.

Many in both countries think the India-US relationship has grown stronger in recent years. A plurality of Indians (46 percent) says relations between their country and the US have improved. An equal number (46 percent) of Pakistanis agree that India-US relations have improved, up from 37 percent last year.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)