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ISLAMABAD — The Pakistanis are fuming. Why is it that their country gets blamed when Pakistanis who were born and bred in the UK and other parts of Europe blow up trains and subways or are apprehended for plotting terror attacks in that continent?

"They are marginalizing the Muslims in Britain… it is a problem for British society," said Shireen Mazari, head of the think tank Institute for Strategic Studies Islamabad. "The next batch of radicalized Muslims will not come from the Muslim world. They will come from Europe."

Over the weekend the director-general of Britain’s intelligence service MI5, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, disclosed that at least 1,600 British Muslims are under surveillance for plotting 30 terrorist attacks in that country using suicide bombers as well as chemical, radioactive and possibly even nuclear weapons. MI5 has also identified 200 terror networks stretching from the UK to Pakistan, Manningham-Buller disclosed. A report said some of the attacks would be "directed from al-Qaeda in Pakistan."

The Pakistanis want to make several distinctions. One: Taliban is not synonymous with al-Qaeda. Two: Sympathy and support are different. Some Pakistanis may sympathize with the Taliban but are not supporting the Islamic fundamentalists.

Three: Extremism is not synonymous with terrorism. Army Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan Khan, spokesman and press secretary of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, said extremism is a state of mind "and must be handled psychologically." A terrorist, on the other hand, is "someone ready to implement his ideas and so must be handled militarily, with force." And the final distinction: Islam is not synonymous with terrorism.

Like many Pakistanis, Foreign Minister Rhusheed Rusori thinks their problem is mostly one of image. "When you see Afghanistan on TV, Pakistan unfortunately lies next to it." The problem, he added, is "how to let the world know that Pakistan is a very diverse country, a very large country."

That very diverse country, again unfortunately for Pakistan, is also home to two million Afghan refugees, most of whom refuse to return to their own country. It is also home to 5.7 million tribal minorities, mainly Pashtun — the group that is sympathetic to the Taliban and is believed to be providing sanctuary to Osama bin Laden in the harsh mountainous area on the Pakistani-Afghan border.

Bin Laden’s trail has gone cold but the manhunt for him continues. As for Taliban leader Mullah Omar, the Afghans insist he is in Quetta, Pakistan, while Shaukat Sultan says Omar has announced he is back in Afghanistan, directing the resurgence of Taliban operations there.

The conflict has provided a training ground for jihadis from all over the world. In the FATA or Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan — a region that covers 27,220 square kilometers, tribal laws prevail. Shaukat Sultan admits that progress has been "very slow" in efforts to integrate the tribal groups into the Pakistani mainstream. The tribal areas are where young Muslims from Britain and elsewhere stay for several weeks, then return to their adopted countries and blow up trains.

Musharraf, backed by the United States, has dealt with terrorism with an iron fist.

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The alliance has not been an easy one for Musharraf, who has been criticized for turning the country into a virtual colony of the United States. The alliance has also earned him enemies among religious fundamentalists, whose militants have vowed to kill him.

Some local press reports refer to the missile attack by government forces on a madrassa or religious school in Bajaur, which killed 80 people, as a "US bombing." The government said the madrassa was a terrorist training camp and banned journalists from visiting the site. A subsequent suicide bombing that killed 40 soldiers at an Army training camp was believed to be in retaliation for the Bajaur attack.

In security cooperation with the United States, Pakistanis and Filipinos have similar attitudes: Americans — can’t live with them, can’t live without them.

The outspoken Mazari, her hair stylishly dyed in a combination of colors with green standing out, said, "There is a mistrust of the United States among Pakistanis that extends across the board. We are all suspicious of the United States."

But in the next breath she admits, "We also realize that we have to cooperate with the United States." Later she says, "We are committed to partnership with the US."

She criticizes US President George W. Bush for demonizing Islam, first when he talked about fighting "Islamo-fascism," then Islamic militants. "I’m sure soon he’ll talk only of Islam," Mazari said.

"The whole Muslim world is being blamed for the terrorism perpetrated by al-Qaeda… it’s creating more space for terrorism," she said. "We don’t really know what the war (on terror) is all about."

The joke in Pakistan, Mazari said, is that "Osama bin Laden must be sitting in Washington somewhere because the Americans need to keep him alive to keep the war going."

Shaukat Sultan points out that his country has suffered from terrorism for two decades, and it is in their own interest to deal decisively with the terror threat. He recalls that their troubles started with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, leading to a flood of Afghan refugees into Pakistan.

When the Americans pulled out of Afghanistan a decade later, Pakistan was left to deal with four million Afghan refugees, a gun culture, narcotics trafficking, the rise of jihadis and religious militancy. A United Nations report last September said Afghanistan now accounts for about 92 percent of the world’s opium and heroin supply, much of which is trafficked through Pakistan.

Apart from Afghanistan, Pakistan must worry about unrest in Iran. It has also fought three wars with a third neighbor, India.

Pakistan’s nuclear capability has allowed it to achieve "minimum credible deterrence" in its conflict with India. But nukes don’t scare jihadis, whose activities have hampered this country’s efforts to attract tourists and investors.

Which is too bad, because Pakistan has much to offer the world and is positioning itself as a "bridge builder" between the West and the Muslim world.

On the picturesque winding road leading to the honeymoon area in the mountains near this city, someone has scrawled on the curb: "Hate USA" and "Crush Israil."

Pakistan is moving to stop such sentiments from going beyond graffiti.