Nearly 2 million people have fled fighting in the northwest which intensified in late April when the army moved to push the Taleban out of Buner district before launching an offensive in Swat. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON - PUBLIC opinion in Pakistan has turned sharply against the Taleban and other Islamist militants but Pakistanis still do not trust the United States and President Barack Obama, a poll showed on Wednesday.
The WorldPublicOpinion.org poll, conducted last month as Pakistan's army fought the Taleban in the Swat Valley, found that most Pakistanis see the Pakistani Taleban and al Qaeda as a critical threat to the nuclear-armed country.
Those Pakistanis who view Islamist militants and local Taleban as a critical threat to their country rose to 81 per cent, up from 34 per cent in a similar poll in late 2007, the University of Maryland polling project found.
Respondents who described al Qaeda's activities as a critical threat to Pakistan rose 41 percentage points to 82 per cent in the same period.
In the poll, seventy per cent voiced sympathy for their government over the Pakistani Taleban in the fight for Swat, a scenic district near Pakistan's capital that was overrun by Islamist militants earlier this year.
Seventy-two per cent said they were confident Pakistan's army could handle the situation.
The shift in Pakistani public opinion on Islamist militants operating within Pakistan represented a 'sea change' caused by 'widespread revulsion' at brutal tactics and undemocratic policies of the Taleban when they briefly controlled Swat, poll research director Clay Ramsay said in a statement.
He added that the poll indicated 'the US is resented just as much as before, despite the US having a new president.'
Sixty-two per cent of those questioned expressed low or no confidence that Mr Obama would do the right thing in world affairs. Only 32 per cent stated they thought his policies would be better for Pakistan than predecessor George W Bush's policies.
US drone attacks on militant camps within Pakistan were called unjustified by 82 per cent of those in the poll.
Large majorities opposed all aspects of the US-led war in neighboring Afghanistan.
On Afghanistan, 61 per cent said it would be bad if the Taleban took over that country, while 87 per cent said Taleban groups who seek to overthrow the Afghan government should not be permitted to have bases in Pakistan. -- REUTERS
