Over 80 percent Pakistanis see Taliban a threat : Poll (Lead)

Most Pakistanis believe that the Taliban fighters are a "critical threat" to their country and support the ongoing offensive in the Swat valley, according to a survey.

An overwhelming 87 percent of Pakistanis think that the Taliban, who are fighting to overthrow the Afghan government, should not be allowed to have bases in Pakistan, showed the poll by the World Public Opinon (WPO), a US-based organisation working on public opinion on international issues.

The survey, which was conducted between May 17 and 28 and randomly interviewed some 1,000 people across Pakistan, showed that about 70 percent of respondents support the government in its decision to launch the military offensive in the Swat valley.

About 45 percent of respondents also said the government was right in trying to resolve the situation through dialogue with the militants. They believe that the Taliban breached the agreement by not putting down their weapons, forcing the government to deal with them militarily.

The army has been battling the militants since April 26 after the Taliban reneged on a controversial peace deal with the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) government and instead moved south from their Swat headquarters and occupied Buner, which is just 100 km from Islamabad.

The operations had begun in Lower Dir, the home district of Taliban-backed radical cleric Sufi Mohammad, who had brokered the peace deal and who is the father-in-law of Swat Taliban commander Maulana Fazlullah. They later spread to Buner and Swat - and to South Waziristan earlier this month.

The military operations have displaced 3.8 million civilians from the three districts of NWFP.

"A sea change has occurred in Pakistani public opinion. The tactics and undemocratic bent of militant groups--in tribal areas as well as Swat--have brought widespread revulsion and turned Pakistanis against them," said Clay Ramsay, the organisation's research director.

However, he adds: "It's crucial to understand that the US is resented just as much as before, despite the US having a new president."

This striking new public willingness to see the government directly oppose Taliban groups and Al Qaeda owes little or nothing to an "Obama effect", the WPO poll said.

About 62 percent of respondents said US President Barack Obama's policies on Pakistan would be the same like his predecessor George W. Bush.

Similarly, 69 percent expressed unfavourably for the current US government, while more than 80 percent said they believe US is trying to weaken and divide the Muslim world.

skp/tb

( 420 Words)

2009-07-02-12:25:51 (IANS)

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