Even as the movement by the Opposition to oust the military regime is gathering steam, a recent study claims a majority of Pakistanis back army rule in the predominantly Muslim nation with Bangladesh being the only other South Asian country to follow the trend.
“The idea that the country should be governed by the army was endorsed by six out of every 10 responses in Pakistan and Bangladesh," the ‘State of Democracy in South Asia’ report said, adding that about half the Pakistanis opinioned both the democratic or non-democratic forms of government made no difference to them.
The least support for army rule is in India, the report said, adding that the support for the army rule diminishes in the countries that are educationally forefront.
But overall, the South Asians overwhelmingly support democracy with Sri Lanka emerging as the country where democracy was most popular, while India was placed third in terms of the percentage of people expressing support for the democratic system, the study said.
“The people not only approve of democratic arrangements, they find it suitable for their own contexts. Seven out of eight responses in the region, higher than in East Asia, held that democracy was suitable or very suitable for their own country,” the report said.
The study found that the citizens of South Asia do not simply like democracy; they prefer it over authoritarian rule. "With the exception of Pakistan, about two-thirds of those who responded preferred democracy over any other form of government,” the report added.
For every one response that endorses dictatorship, there are six that prefer democracy, which compares favourably with the ratio obtained in East Asia, Latin America and post-Soviet era countries of Europe, the survey said.
“The world since 9/11 has seen the rise of another hypothesis of disconnect between Islam and democracy. South Asia is home to over a quarter of the global Muslim population. Muslims are either the majority or a significant minority in all the five countries of the region,” the study said, pointing out, “This will have implications beyond South Asia.”
The survey was conducted in five South Asian countries – Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and was prepared by the CSDS in tie-up with the International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Stockholm and Department of Sociology, Oxford University.
Re: Majority back army rule in Pakistan
*‘a recent study’…*sure, enjoy your dream world 
come to Pakistan and see how sick and tired people are of Army rule being forced upon them
Re: Majority back army rule in Pakistan
[quote]
The survey was conducted in five South Asian countries -- Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and was prepared by the CSDS in tie-up with the International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Stockholm and Department of Sociology, Oxford University.
[/quote]
First the Economist, then the IRI, and now this survey which includes participation from England's Oxford University.
Re: Majority back army rule in Pakistan
stop trying to fool everyone.
The economist did not conduct a ‘poll’, it was the opinion of the reporter, from a old article. The ‘IRI’ is part of the neo-con Republican’s who support their agent Musharraf.
This current ‘poll’ was not even covered in any Pak paper, which says it all 
Re: Majority back army rule in Pakistan
its shame Pakistanis has to opt for Army rule, you can imagine how they got sick of sham lota parties with no exception at all including Q, N, PPP and MMA. sab hi is hamam meim nangay.
Re: Majority back army rule in Pakistan
It’s also the lead headline in Pakistan’s The Daily Times. :hehe:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\12\25\story_25-12-2006_pg1_1
Half of Pakistanis not keen on democracy
People in South Asia overwhelmingly support democracy, except in Pakistan, where about half the respondents in a survey said that democratic or non-democratic forms of government made no difference to them. Sri Lanka emerged as the country where democracy was most popular, while India was third after Bangladesh in terms of the percentage of people expressing support for the democratic system in the study, ‘State of Democracy in South Asia’. “The people not only approve of democratic arrangements, they find it suitable for their own contexts. Seven out of eight responses in the region, higher than in East Asia, held that democracy was ‘suitable’ or ‘very suitable’ for their own country,” the report said. The study found that the citizens of South Asia do not simply like democracy; they prefer it over authoritarian rule. “With the exception of Pakistan, about two-thirds of those who responded preferred democracy over any other form of government,” the report said. For every one response that endorses dictatorship, there are six that prefer democracy, which compares favourably with the ratio obtained in East Asia, Latin America and post-Soviet era countries of Europe.
However, about a quarter in other countries and half the respondents in Pakistan said democratic or non-democratic forms of government made no difference to them. Also, there is majority support for army rule in Pakistan and Bangladesh, the two countries in the region with a record of army rule. **“The idea that the country should be governed by the army was endorsed by six out of every 10 responses in Pakistan and Bangladesh,” said the report prepared by the CSDS in collaboration with the International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Stockholm and Department of Sociology, Oxford University. **The least support for army rule is in India, the report said, adding the higher the education, the lower the support for the army. The survey was conducted in five South Asian countries – Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. “The world since 9/11 has seen the rise of another hypothesis of ‘disconnect’ between Islam and democracy. South Asia is home to over a quarter of the global Muslim population. Muslims are either the majority or a significant minority in all the five countries of this region,” the report said. “Thus, if the citizens in this region support democracy, this would have implications beyond South Asia,” it added
Re: Majority back army rule in Pakistan
Pakistanis have never experienced any of the benefits of democracy, so how could they possibly decide between Democracy or Autocracy...
Re: Majority back army rule in Pakistan
its lesser of the 2 evils
Re: Majority back army rule in Pakistan
TRD you were saying?
Also, even if its 6 out of 10 I think its still very good. I mean remember by the end of the democratic regimes how sick the masses had grown, despite voting the PPP and PML into power, only to flame them later, and then bring them back alternatively. I guess the present regime, this is indeed a way out of that deadlock.
Re: Majority back army rule in Pakistan
totally agreed
Re: Majority back army rule in Pakistan
Hmm so does this mean when Musharraf says that now in Pakistan there is the true essence of democracy compared to the sham democracy of the past, the people don't like his version of democracy?
Re: Majority back army rule in Pakistan
yep if by ‘people’ you mean benazir and nawaz 
Re: Majority back army rule in Pakistan
In Pakistan people welcomed General Pervez Musharraf at the acme of Mr Nawaz Sharif’s rule, which would have made him a caliph in 2001 if the Senate hadn’t resisted his hyper-Islamic amendment by a narrow margin of votes. The economy was belly-up and there was talk of a failed state after 1998 when Mr Sharif exploded the bomb and froze all forex accounts.
Today, the politicians are keen about democracy but many people think the economy is doing well and there is liberalisation of social life which is good for the market. They are scared of what the clergy will do to them if it comes to power through elections. This is the core of the ‘Muslim problem’. The Islamists want to use the system of democracy to derail democracy because they want to have no truck with its values. All of them, from Algeria to Egypt to Jordan, have promised to overthrow the liberal measures taken by authoritarian regimes and instead enforce a strict sharia which will have no such pagan things as an opposition in parliament and women as people’s representatives.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\12\27\story_27-12-2006_pg3_1