Pew Survey: Majority dislikes Taliban, dissatisfied with govt
Interesting stuff, but most interesting is the level of dislike for Taliban. Also, Zardari comes second to Taliban in popularity.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/35-Majority-dislikes-Taliban-dissatisfied-with-govt-survey-860
Majority dislikes Taliban, dissatisfied with govt
By Anwar Iqbal and Masood Haider
Friday, 18 Jun, 2010
WASHINGTON: Eighty-nine per cent Pakistanis surveyed by a leading US research group say they think of themselves first as Pakistanis, rather than as members of their ethnic groups.
The global attitudes survey by the Pew Research Centre, Washington, also shows that eighty-six per cent Pakistanis believe the military is having a good influence on the country.
The Pakistani media received very high ratings — seventy-seven per cent say it is good for the country.
No Muslim country surveyed recorded majority support for suicide bombing, Al Qaeda or Osama bin Laden. In Pakistan, only ten per cent like Taliban and only 9 per cent support Al Qaeda.
As many as seventy per cent Pakistanis have unfavourable views of the Taliban and sixty-one per cent reject Al Qaeda openly. Between thirty-twenty per cent say they do not know the two groups well enough to express an opinion.
Almost all Pakistanis see their country in crisis. They give their national government lower ratings than at any time in this decade, and almost no one is satisfied with national conditions.
President Asif Ali Zardari’s ratings have plummeted: Last year, sixty-four per cent people surveyed by Pew had a favourable opinion of him; now just thirty-two per cent hold this view.
President Zardari is much less popular than the other public figures tested: as many as seventy-nine per cent of those surveyed have favourable views about opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, 67 per cent like Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and sixty-one back Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
The nation-state is of great significance to Pakistanis, and despite important ethnic and regional differences, national identity is strong throughout the country. Overall, eighty-nine per cent say they think of themselves first as Pakistani, rather than as a member of the ethnic group they come from.
It is not surprising that American cooperation with the Pakistani military is popular, given the confidence that Pakistanis have in it. As many as eighty-six per cent say the military is having a good influence on the country, which is far greater than the number of Pakistanis who feel that way about the police (thirty-nine per cent), courts (fifty-eight per cent), and religious leaders (sixty-four per cent).
Just thirty-six per cent say the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence is having a good impact, although many respondents (forty-one per cent) do not offer an opinion.
Pakistan is the only country surveyed to voice support for a nuclear-armed Iran.
Majorities in 10 countries, including Jordan, Egypt and Brazil, would consider military action to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Crime and terrorism
Crime and terrorism are seen as major problems by virtually everyone. And huge percentages of Pakistanis also see their country struggling mightily with corruption and a deteriorating economy.
A long-standing concern about religious extremism has grown even greater over the past year. No fewer than 69 per cent of the Pakistanis questioned worry that extremists could take control of the country.
President Barack Obama’s global popularity is not evident in Pakistan, and Americas image remains as tarnished in that country as it was in the Bush years.
Only twenty-two per cent of Pakistanis think the US takes their interests into account when making foreign policy decisions, essentially unchanged from twenty-one per cent since 2007. Sixty-four per cent of the public regards the US as an enemy, while only 9 per cent describe it as a partner.
Many express serious concerns about the US-led effort to combat terrorism. However, for all the anti-American sentiment, the survey also finds an openness to improving relations with the US. By a margin of 53 per cent to 29 per cent Pakistanis say it is important that relations between the two countries improve.
Ties with India and China
Long-running concerns about India are also reflected in the poll. The dispute over Kashmir is cited as a major problem facing Pakistan by no fewer than eighty-eight per cent. And growing worries about extremism notwithstanding, more Pakistanis judge India as a very serious threat to the nation (sixty-nine per cent) than regard the Taliban (fifty-seven per cent) or Al Qaeda (forty-one per cent) as very serious threats. Most Pakistanis see the US as on the wrong side of this issue: by a margin of fifty-four per cent to 4 per cent the US is seen as favouring India over Pakistan.
Pakistanis express overwhelmingly positive opinions about another Asian giant — eighty-four per cent have a favourable view of China and eighty per cent consider China a partner to their country.
The poll finds broad support for harsh punishments: seventy-sight per cent favour death for those who leave Islam; eighty per cent favour whippings and cutting off hands for crimes like theft and robbery; and eighty-three per cent favour stoning adulterers.
As many as 87 per cent of Pakistanis believe it is equally important for boys and girls to be educated. The poll also finds that support for suicide bombings that target civilians in defence of Islam remains very low. Only 5 per cent of Pakistani Muslims believe these kinds of attacks can often or sometimes be justified; as recently as 2004 roughly four-in-ten (forty-one per cent) held this view. Fully eighty-seven per cent now say such attacks can never be justified — the highest percentage among the Muslim publics included in the 2009 survey.
Both the Taliban and Al Qaeda groups are unpopular across the board. Among all the major subgroups within Pakistani society analysed in the study, negative views of the Taliban and Al Qaeda outweigh positive views. Support for both groups is low even among those who agree with some of the severe punishments endorsed by the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Still, those who disagree with these harsh measures are somewhat more likely to express an unfavourable view of both groups.
Taliban and Al Qaeda tend to be unpopular across regions, including in areas where government forces are currently fighting extremist groups.
However, Sindh stands out as the region with the most negative views. For example, eighty-two per cent in Sindh have a negative opinion of the Taliban, compared with seventy-five per cent in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and sixty-seven per cent in Punjab. More than half in Balochistan do not offer opinions about the Taliban or Al Qaeda.
Analysis of the data shows that people who think extremist groups may be able to seize control of the country are more likely to voice negative views about the Taliban.
About seven-in-ten (seventy-two per cent) want the US and Nato to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan as soon as possible. Only sixteen per cent approve of President Obama’s decision to send more troops to Afghanistan.
In 2008, fifty-three per cent said the economy would improve in the next twelve months. This year, only twenty-three per cent believe the economy will get better.
While views about national conditions are overwhelmingly negative, most Pakistanis are upbeat about their personal lives — seventy-four per cent say they are very or somewhat satisfied with their overall lives, and most are satisfied with their family lives and incomes.
the best