I've known a good number of Pakistani people, and I can happily say, yes, a Pakistani would say the same. From what I have learnt from other Pakistani people is that the generality isn't supporting nor has it ever wanted to support the terrorist, it is the politicians. Most Asian/African countries suffer from having poor corrupt politicians who do not have the nation/people's best interest at heart but some ulterior motive with a final aim for power/money. The politicians from different countries have chosen different means to this end, in India, they've chosen caste-based politics and monetary corruption, in Pakistan they've chosen more violent means, such as Jihad and conquering Kashmir in the name of of Islam. At the end of the day, it's the people in Pakistan who have been suffering.
There are two problems with your experience.
Firstly, there is the selection bias. The Pakistanis that are willing to talk to you in English are almost certainly not the ones who see you as an infidel they’d rather kill than talk to. These people are probably spewing racist and religious vitriol in Pashto or Arabic.
Secondly, the Pakistanis that are liberal have long since lost control of the narrative. That was true of the democrats in Japan after 1932. That was true of the educated and intelligentsia in Germany as well after the elections of 1933. They stopped representing the mainstream population which kept getting more radical. The average German university professor would also not have regarded Albert Einstein as a rat to be exterminated, but try telling that to the jobless and angry working class in Hitler’s beer halls.
That’s why the violence in Pakistan is on a neverending cycle with nothing on the horizon to break the cycle.
I am aware that Pakistan was the site of the most civilized society in the world 5000 years ago. These guys were planning their city in regular grids 2000 years before the Britons painted themselves blue. They had heated public baths 1000 years before the Chinese stopped human sacrifices, and underground sewers 4500 years before the Europeans realized the world was round.
But these days are over. Just as societies can progress, they can also regress. Pakistan has been on a downhill trend for the longest time and I see nothing on the horizon to effect a change in direction. It worries me, frankly. These guys are too big and too connected and too smart to ignore. They’re not the Rwandans or Haitians, whose problems can be contained in a small area. Sooner or later some Pakistani will try to nuke somebody. That will probably bring about Stunde Null.
BTW the only hijacking incident in Singapore history was also conducted by Pakistanis.
