WASHINGTON - Half or more of the Indian and Pakistani public are open to a range of possible outcomes for Kashmir other than it being part of their respective countries, according to a new WorldPublicOpinion.org Network poll. The poll also showed that on both sides there is strong opposition by the majority for Kashmir becoming an independent country or dividing Kashmir between India Pakistan and, the network of research centres run by the Programme on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland said Wednesday. The idea that received the lowest level of opposition was independence for Kashmir. "If Kashmiris were to choose independence, majority of Indians and Pakistanis would find it least tolerable". Three quarters of Pakistanis called this desirable or acceptable while 50 percent of Indians said this idea is unacceptable, the other half said it was at least tolerable or did not provide an answer. The idea of dividing Jammu and Kashmir between Pakistan and India gets little support on either side, but is also not opposed by a large majority. Pakistanis were roughly divided between 52 percent who found the idea unacceptable and 48 percent who said it was at least tolerable or did not answer. Among Indians, while 42 percent found division unacceptable, 58 percent said it was at least tolerable or did not answer. However, the greatest indicator of flexibility is that Indians as well as Pakistanis express a readiness to have the Kashmiri people decide their fate, WorldPublicOpinion.org said. More significant, Indians and Pakistanis showed a readiness to have the Kashmiri people decide their fate, the report said. Respondents were asked to "suppose majority of all Kashmiris, including those on both sides of the Line of Control and refugees, want Kashmir to be an independent state". In that case only 35 percent of Indians would find independence unacceptable. Among Pakistanis, only 11 percent found this unacceptable. "Given the deep roots of the conflict over Kashmir, it is surprising that the conflict does not muster clearly polarised majorities in Pakistan and India, falling in line behind their governments' positions," said Clay Ramsay, research Director of the network. "Instead, many show openness to considering different possibilities for resolving the conflict". Overall both sides endorse their own govts' stance over Kashmir issue, especially Pakistanis (Indians 57 percent, Pakistanis 68pc). Only minorities on either side urged their governments to take a harder or softer line on the Kashmir issue, the poll said. Most of the Pakistanis say Pakistan government does not support militant groups that conduct attacks against civilians in India, while most of the Indians tend to believe it is doing otherwise. Pakistani attitudes about such groups are complex. Less than half (39 percent) believed that such outfits operating in Kashmir help to provide safety to the Kashmiris, whereas some 9 percent say it affects their security. Mostly Pakistanis said attacks on Indian government officials were rarely or never justified. Many rejected attacks on security-related personnel in India -policemen, intelligence agents, military and paramilitary troops -. Asked about the possibility of the government "putting pressure on India by supporting militant groups in 'occupied' Kashmir," (controlled by India) 37 percent favoured it, while 26 percent opposed it and 37 percent remained silent. The survey of 907 urban respondents in Pakistan was carried out by AC Nielsen-Pakistan between September 12 and September 28, 2007. In India, Team C Voter carried out the survey of 1,258 urban respondents in two waves during October and November of 2007. The network said the sampling error for the Pakistani sample was about 3.3 percentage points while in India's case, sampling error was put at about 2.8 percentage points.