Iran is popular in Pakistan, overwhelmingly disliked everywhere else

[Marwat Khan Lodhi]

Iran is only popular among pakistan's shia population, it is central to their shiaism.

 

[Armstrong]

Iran is only popular among pakistan's shia population, it is central to their shiaism.

No not really ! Iran is popular amongst Pakistanis across the spectrum for one reason & one reason alone - Its got balls !

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

19 % Indians in favour of Iran and 28 % Indian against. It only shows that most indias, remaining 53 % don't have enough knowledge about contemporary Iran to form an opinion.Due to this , Indians attitudes towards Iran seem mixed .

But i do know one thing , the educated Indians who are thorough about Iran and Iranians like them in general , especially in comparison to other muslim countries.

 

[MST]

Pakistanis will like anyone that raises the "Islamic flag." Get a wahabi sheikh or an extremist shia from Qom to preach hate and Pakistanis off the street will flock to their cause.

You are correct. This is the main factor.

I don't think its about Islamism. I think its about Iran standing up against the US in the eyes of Pakistanis, while they have been victims of drone-attacks, etc. They see Iran as a country that won't let other countries mess with.

No sir. If as you say it was was about standing up to the US then Pakistan would have a similar rating for North Korea. NK has fingered the US way more than Iran. But let me show you what your country things about NK. Below is the bbc survey of 2012. See page 12 of the link http://www.globescan.com/images/ima...ings/2012_bbc_country rating final 080512.pdf

The image below is from 2010 since i couldn't find the image for 2012 but still not much change in 2012

I know that standing up to US is one factor but Islam is the main reason. Lets not be hypocrites about it.

 

[MST]

well Iran is very popular here in my country. It would certainty go over 90! There is no shia sunni crap here!

LOL. And how many shias are there in Bangladesh? Its like Pakistan telling India - there is no Hindu muslim crap in Pakistan. Well there has to be some Hindus for Hindu Muslim crap to happen. If something is not done looks like Pakistan will be like Bangladesh soon with hardly any Shia population and then they can also claim like you - they have no shia sunny crap.

 

[kobiraaz]

[/B]

LOL. And how many shias are there in Bangladesh? Its like Pakistan telling India - there is no Hindu muslim crap in Pakistan. Well there has to be some Hindus for Hindu Muslim crap to happen. If something is not done looks like Pakistan will be like Bangladesh soon with hardly any Shia population and then they can also claim like you - they have no shia sunny crap.

Idiot Indian! We have less Ahmadiya than Shia! Still Ahmadiyas are persecuted. Shiaas are not! Ahmadinejad is the most popular muslim leader here! They hardly know who is Arab King now! Cut the crap and die somewhere else!

 

[MST]

Idiot Indian! We have less Ahmadiya than Shia! Still Ahmadiyas are persecuted. Shiaas are not! Ahmadinejad is the most popular muslim leader here! They hardly know who is Arab King now! Cut the crap and die somewhere else!

1. Hindu/Christian/Kafirs
2. Ahmediya
3. Shias

Isn't that the natural order of persecution for you guys? You are right on track

 

[KS]

China and India. No friends of Iran it seems.

Only on PDF Indians like to try and turn Iranians against Pakistan but on the ground their government has shunned Iran.
@Soheil @kollang

What I meant by China and India is the population, Einstein. It seems that both people have an unfavorable opinion about Iran, while Iran's policy hasn't affected both countries.

Average Indians - the go to work in the morning and come back in the evening - could hardly care less for what happens in Iran. I mean why would they be ? Iran is not our direct neighbour..India-Iran have no conflicts..no territorial claims..nothing. Its the ones who do business with Iran who have interest and that is probably a tiny percentage of our population and unlike Pakistan we (India & China) have "religious" brotherhood with Iran either or we have to look upto a icon who "stands upto" America as both nations have good relationships with US.

@KingMamba93 - Govts have shunned Iran ? Indian and Chinese govts look after their own interest. Not Iran's interest. In some areas they coincide with that of the Iranians and in some others they dont. But yeah you are looking for some brownie points here from Iranians..so ok.

 

[Tridibans]

Actually, many Indians have favourable views about Iran. Atleast more than the total number of Pakistanis
Confused?

As per the report, 76 % in Pak have faourable view on Iran = approx. 150 million (total pop. 180 m)
For India, the number is close to 200 million (19 % of 1.2 billion). There you go.

 

[Silverblaze]

There are historical ties with Iran, but what I think impresses us is their resillience.

Pakistani is a nation where defiant figures are popular because Pakistan has been ruled by many invaders.

It is just sad to see that Arab politics weakened Iran-Pakistan ties, otherwise we would have been much better economically.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

why would it be surprising. They are a Muslim country and our neighbour

Iran is only popular among pakistan's shia population, it is central to their shiaism.

here you go on again with your monkey business

by the way, the late Qazi Hussein (Former Amir of Jamat Islami - a Sunni organization) was quite vocal about increasing economic and political ties with Iran.

So it isnt a Sunni-Shiia thing


though this petty rivalry does exist very much and there are anti-Iran factions in Pakistan (with their own vested interests of course,,,,,same way you have hardcore Shiias who are anti-KSA - again, vested interests)

 

[Kaniska]

Against Pakistan indians would not even hesitate to take side of the aliens xenomorphs even if that means indian chestbusters later-

Of course...what is wrong with that...because..for us...Your nation is the only nation from which we have issues ...So this is quite natural.Foreign relations are made on the perceived threat assessment..And of course Iran is not a threat to us..

 

[Kaniska]

There are couple of observation that i would like to share without really going to the discussion.Beacuse in most of the discussion in PDF..bashing India is a fashion for some trollers from Pakistan to convey that they really stand for Islamic Ummah..

India's perception of Iran:

1- Poll suggest that of course not majority people donot favor Iran..But no one takes into account as India has the very few people who does not like Iran....This implies that India does not think Iran not much favorably but again not unfavorlably too inspite of Israel being a best friend us and continious bombarding of news across global media outlet against Iran.

2- I saw couple of Iran members who are just inclined to present that India is anti Iran..I respect their thoughts...I donot want to market my idea that India is a best friend of Iran....but again if really Iran want to find some neutral people, then India is a nation who does not really have any -ve thoughts about Iran too...India has a significant Parsi population...So when we see the Parsi population in our society who has created and contrubuted to our growth and nation...That ultimately removes any kind of ill will about them...

3- Iran is viewed as modern and elite Muslim nation that has a histroy of its own...Not like Arab nations where Indian and other SA are treated very differently....

Now I would like to ask the same question to people from Iran, do you like us??? I may be rude..but the fact is Iran is just neutral to India or just being -ve to us...Iran never supported or done anything significant favor to us in our histroy to feel that Indian public in general will change from little bit of ignorance to more favorable opion...In spite of Iran and its people being in majority anti Indian, donot you that it is not such a bad either where People of India donot hold any anti Iran opinion being a non Islamic nation...

Inspite of this observation if Iran and its pdf members still think differently....both of us really think about it....

 

[Kaniska]

I disagree. This Ummah thing is the reason Pakistan was created in the first place. If we turn out backs on it, then we are simply a bunch of ethnic / regional entities trying to live together for no particular reason.

Yes, there is some geographical logic behind Pakistan, it largely being based on River Indus, but this geographical factor works in a round-about way (Muslim majority populating Indus and its tributaries). But this geographical factor is not strong enough to bind this country together. The Eastern borders are no defined by any geographical feature. The Western borders are also open to interpretation. Three ethnicities are shared with three neighbors (Punjabis with India, Pashtuns with Afghanistan, & Baluch with Iran & Afghanistan). The difference between different ethnic elements are enough to tear apart this country, once Islam is taken out of equation.

Perhaps now you can begin to understand how can a strategist set about to tear this country in a couple of decades. One simply has to discredit the role of religion in Pakistan's internal and external dynamics - this being accomplished to an uncomfortable extent. The other process is to fan the apathy into hatred in ethnic terms - a process well under way.

My friend, Paksitanis point to the fact that very few others in Muslim world attach importance to religion as a basis for identity and that we should do the same. These people seem to predominate on the Pakistan-related forums and such. However the common man on the street is not represented on such forums. The street would resist such views.

If you assume that Pakistan is a country like Iran, or Turkey, or Egypt, then you are vastly mistaken.

I think you are spot on...The moment Pakistan will shed its Muslim saviour or Muslim Ummah Concept, then what will be the political factors that will bind about the distince ethnically diverse and distince region of Pakistan....So i feel Pakistan Army and its GOV knows pretty well about the limitation of omitting this Muslim Umah concept from ideaology and social fabric of Pakistan..

 

[Marwat Khan Lodhi]

why would it be surprising. They are a Muslim country and our neighbour



here you go on again with your monkey business

by the way, the late Qazi Hussein (Former Amir of Jamat Islami - a Sunni organization) was quite vocal about increasing economic and political ties with Iran.

So it isnt a Sunni-Shiia thing


though this petty rivalry does exist very much and there are anti-Iran factions in Pakistan (with their own vested interests of course,,,,,same way you have hardcore Shiias who are anti-KSA - again, vested interests)

To be honest Iranis and pakistanis (except shias) are very indifferent to each other even though they are neighbours. Unlike afghans and indians, it doesnt even feel to us that iranis are even our neighbours.
Many pakistanis do appreciate anti-american stance of iran but it is not that loud.