You have made my point here very nicely.
How is it that the national belief of Pakistan as a threat can simultaneously hold true with the idea that Pakistan is not rated.
Your actual biggest threat is China, and that is not questioned by all global strategic observations and opinions, however you state yourself Pakistan is promoted as the threat.
So this is epistemic collapse of India, where do you begin.
Slowly we are seeing a catch up between self perception and reality, this is reverting to the mean
I know India is not a security state and certainly hope Pakistan doesn't think of it as one - though PA holding the reins of power might say otherwise and perhaps that is why your sole focus is security.
I have already mentioned that Pakistan is no 1 threat to India and hence rated on security. But being a rival to India on world stage - not even in the same ballpark. This is my perspective backed by data ie its base on the huge difference between population, size (land), economy, forex etc. of the two countries. Here are few things to ponder on:
1) How many patients from India travel to Pakistan for critical care and how many Pakistanis come to India?
2) What is GDP per capita (cumulative GDP we all know the story)?
3) More than GDP think about goods as a basket - I will point to automobiles - the price of car and bike in India vs. Pakistan
4) What are the inflows from tourism (per capita or size)
I can go on and on. In all these metrics and more Pakistan is far behind and so not a rival for us. On security - its no 1. You might see it differently, I see it like above (and most Indians do)
And on the mean reversion point - if you think insulting someone's IQ is gonna make your point, go ahead. In real world, its worth as much as Pakistani rupee (not very much)