Only 8% of Pakistanis express confidence that Obama will do the right thing in world affairs, while 18% of Pakistanis believe Bin Laden can do the right thing in world affairs today.
These are some of the puzzling yet interesting statistics that I have come across in the PEW survey. While I believe I can use history and common sense to support most of these statistics, some of them are indeed beyond my understanding.
It is also important to note that we should take the survey with a grain of salt, as "The sample covers roughly 84% of the adult population." The report excluded areas of instability in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan. It also could not survey the FATA region, along with Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.
It is interesting to note that "relatively few Pakistanis believe the situation in Afghanistan could have a serious impact on their country." It is interesting to note this Pakistani perception, considering the fact that 4 million Afghan refugees migrated to Pakistan after the end of the Soviet invasion. A lot of critics have linked this vast immigration to the drug trafficking problem in Pakistan today. Infact, the PEW report itself has said that seven-in-ten people say that illegal drugs are a big problem in Pakistan today. While I am not implying that the same will happen again, the future withdrawal of the US, NATO and International forces could have a similar impact in Afghanistan. It is entirely possible that there will be civil unrest in Afghanistan much like 1989 which will force many Afghanis to seek refuge in Pakistan again. 25 % of the people think it would be bad for Pakistan if the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, however this is countered by 27% saying it would not matter if Taliban took over Afghanistan. Thus, an average Pakistani mindset does not have much of an opinion as to who should be in power in Afghanistan. However, in terms of Taliban as an organization, only 15% of Pakistanis have a favorable opinion of them. This is why only 20% of the Pakistani people are against the current military operations in FATA and North Waziristan. However, Pakistan people's lack of foresight in Afghanistan could prove to be detrimental once again, as Afghanistan's civil unrest in the past 3 decades has hugely affected Pakistan.
It is interesting to note that unlike Taliban and Al-Qaeda, 35% of the people do hold a positive view of Lashkar-e-Taiba. Lashkar-e-Taiba has been banned in Pakistan since 2002, but its history is deeply rooted in fighting for the liberation of Kashmiri people, which is still a crucial matter to most Pakistanis( supported by the survey). The most puzzling factor is that militant groups are more favored in Punjab than any other provinces. One would think that militant organizations would have more support in Balochistan or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where they are closer to the insurgency. Punjab has always had a sense of favortism in terms of economic and educational growth in comparison to other provinces. Ayub Khan's tenure was the start of this irregular economic development. Starting from Ayub Khan's era, our educational curriculum became a virus to its own people. Rather than operating in shades of gray, our educational curriculum has always operated with the easy "black and white" outlook towards history. From the refusal of the curriculum to accept the good(occasional) aspects of Colonial rule to the magical notion that Pakistan won the 65 and 71 war against India, our educational curriculum has crippled our students in terms of intellectual growth. Punjab has been the biggest victim to the curriculum, as our youth has been taught to identify an "absolute" enemy rather than a "just" enemy. The forces that drive our national politics are much like our educational system, e.g: the use of Islam to unite Pakistanis against all forces of evil( India, British Colonialists) or the creation of Bangladesh because of East Pakistan sabotage of Pakistan's Central government. Thus, it is without surprise that the militant groups are more favored in Punjab than any other provinces. The educational curriculum equips them to identify these militant organizations as liberators of Pakistan, and eventually Islam. This kind of survey frankly makes me wonder whether it has been a blessing in disguise that the other provinces haven't been privileged with our fantastic hyper-nationalistic curriculum that cripples the minds of our youth and has done so since the early 60's.
The PEW report also highlights a sense of injustice felt by Pakistanis. 47% of the people say Islam plays a fairly large role in the country. " Nearly nine-in-ten (88%) of those who see Islam playing a large role say that is is a good thing. Similarly, 79% of those who say Islam's role is small say that is a bad thing for their country." Thus, most Pakistanis do want Islam to play a role in the political sphere. In 2005, 63% said Islam played a large role. Whether there has been a decrease of the role of Islam in the political sphere is irrelevant, because Pakistanis right now do not welcome the lack of the Islam role in their society. We can definitely link this lack of role of Islam to the current disdain for Pakistan's government. The President's popularity has gone from 64% to a mere 20% today. "Fully 84$ of Pakistanis are dissatisfied with the way things are going in their country." What can we attribute these factors to? " About nine-in-ten consider terrorism (91%), lack of jobs (91%) and crime (88%) to be very big problems." The Pakistanis also do not shy away from blaming politics, as " currently, 74% say corrupt political leaders are a very big problem." Once again, whether leaders are corrupt or not is irrelevant to the dilemma, as the Pakistani people clearly display a lack of faith in them. I believe that from the statistics it can be inferred that the lack of jobs, crime, terrorism, corrupt politicians( allegedly) has all boiled down to the disapproval of the current government. The only thing that I can't explain and does not support my thesis is the fact that Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani still has 59% of approval from the population. Thus, in answer to all these problems, the population of Pakistan feels that the response to injustice should be the rising influence of Islam in the political sphere. This is why an astonishing 82% of the population " favor instituting harsh punishments such as stoning people who commit adultery, whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery." The Pakistani people are losing faith fast and strong in regards to the current punishment laws in the country. The lack of a system of justice has made them ponder about a more harsh alternative, as they believe that the current laws are having no effect in society. This is also why I personally believe that Nawaz Sharif is more popular than ever( 71 %). Nawaz Sharif has a history of being more traditional and religious in his policies. "On August 29, 1998 then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif proposed a law to create an Islamic order in Pakistan and establish a legal system based on the Quran and the Sunnat. Sharif told Pakistanis that the proposed Shariat Bill was a charter of duties and not power. This came a week after Sharif informally announced the measure during the commemoration the late President Zia ul-Haq’s 10-year death anniversary on August 17." It is important to note though that the Amendment never passed. I do understand that the only thing that does not support my Thesis is the fact that the Chief Justice still enjoys 61% of the popularity vote, however I believe much of it is due to his historic stance against Musharraf which have won him a lot of praise( including me).
Last, but not the least, the army still enjoys 84% of the popular vote in Pakistan. General Kayani also enjoys 61% of the popular vote amongst Pakistanis. This is staggering, considering the fact that Musharraf was removed from office only 2 years ago. The army has since then conducted a counter-insurgent operation which has won itself wide support throughout Pakistan. It is also interesting to note that even though 88% of the population cites terrorism as a huge threat, almost no one cites the military as one of the possible reasons as to why terrorism is still a big problem today. Clearly, the people do not associate the current government policies with the military's counter-insurgent operations. Their view of the military and the civilian government seems to be one of two independent train of thoughts rather than these two entities working in concert. It appears that the charm of Ayub Khan and his successors has carried on within the Pakistani mindset today( helped also by Zulfiqar Bhutto's vigorous anti-India stance). 74% of the population still ranks India as a threat to the nation, while only 54% of the population believes that Taliban is the main threat. I have to applaud the army on this statistic. Despite the loss of 38,000 civilians over the past 5 years by insurgent forces comprising of various Al-Qaeda/Taliban networks, the public is still more petrified of India than insurgent groups. The Pakistanis( rightly so) will not let go of the Kashmir dispute. 71 % of the population believes the problem of Kashmir to be a big problem for their country, while 65% believes are concerned with extremism. Kashmir indeed runs through the veins of the citizens of Pakistan, and India's refusal to grant privileges to Human Rights Communites access to the area is not going to stop this problem any time soon. Judging from the stats, the people understand that the liberators of Kashmir is not as much the civilian government, but rather the military( and to some extent the militant groups) themselves. This can also be attributed to the popular notion amongst Pakistani citizens today that India supports rebel groups in Balochistan and is trying to use its Afghanistan influence to dismantle Pakistan. The public should definitely not be blamed for this notion, as it is the leaders( military or civilian) that have largely used the anti-India stance in order to further their political means.
Even though about 60% of the people of Pakistan consider the U.S. as an enemy to their country, a staggering 64% of the people want to improve relations with the U.S. China similarly enjoys 84% popularity rate in Pakistan. While U.S. has supplied Pakistan with tremendous amount of aid, the survey finds that most Pakistanis are not even aware of this aid. I can't blame them, as phases of economic aid can never help a country which has little to no infrastructure to support such economic growth. Unfortunately, the dynamics of the current war in Afghanistan means that U.S. can't play China with Pakistan any time soon, as Pakistan's military involvement in the war is essential to their needs. The United States should find much solace in the fact that at least 64% want improved relations with the U.S. What do those improved relations entail? I can't answer that fully, but I do know that if 65% of Pakistan wants US and NATO forces to leave, it means they attribute the U.S. a lot to the current terrorism problems we face today. I also believe that the U.S. has had a detrimental impact in Pakistan( terrorism, Afghan refugees and drug trafficking), and a common man can absolutely be forgiven for perceiving the U.S. as such.
