By Asif Farooqi, IOL Pakistan Correspondent

ISLAMABAD, September 11 (IslamOnline) - While the big majority of common Pakistanis feel sympathy for the American nation on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, most of the people on the streets here believe the U.S. government was partly responsible for the 9/11 events.

A survey conducted by IslamOnline on the streets of the Pakistani capital Islamabad showed a very limited number of Pakistanis support the 9/11 acts of terror. However, most laypeople are angry at the U.S. government policies towards Muslims at large.

“This is depressing. I could not have ever endorsed anything like that,” says Umer Farooq, a graduate university student, while watching the live TV broadcast of scenes of the first anniversary from Ground Zero in New York.

“Only a terrorist with a very strong motive could do that and the U.S. government should at least now try to battle that motive out of its foreign policy,” 22-year-old Umer explained, as he looked grimly at the moving scenes displayed on his television screen.

Muhammad Saleh belongs to a family with religious background. At the age of 25, he is still to find a job. “It is good for the Americans in the longer run” he says. “We all have hopes that the government and the powers that be in the U.S. will not mess with the Muslims anymore,” he argues. But even Saleh was clear that he would have tried to prevent the events of 9/11, especially those related to the civilian deaths, had he had the opportunity to do so.

“This is so sad and unbelievably painful,” Aliya Ayub, a housewife told IslamOnline, as she joined the world in observing one-minute silence to mourn the 9/11 victims. “I cannot support this insanity which destroyed the lives of thousands of families in many different parts of the world,” she added.