65% Pakistani want Musharraf to Quit: Dawn Survey

54.5 per cent want military out of politics
By Our Staff Reporter: Dawn, August 14, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Aug 13: About 54.5 per cent urban Pakistanis believe that military should have no role in politics and 65.2 per cent want Gen Pervez Musharraf to quit the office of the president, reveal findings of a survey.

The survey, sponsored by DAWN NEWS, daily Dawn, CNN-IBN and Indian Express, was conducted by AC Neilsen in 10 major cities of Pakistan, shows that people are no more interested in elections.

About 36.6 per cent of the respondents said they would not caste their votes for any political party or candidate if the elections were held tomorrow.

The findings, however, prove that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is ahead of other parties with 13.4 per cent saying that they will vote for the PML-N, followed by 12.9 per cent for the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) of Benazir Bhutto.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement is placed at No 3 with eight per cent.

As many as 4.7 per cent urban Pakistanis say they will vote for the ruling PML while Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), an alliance of six religious parties, has support of only 0.7 per cent in the 10 cities.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif also tops the ranking of those leaders having trust of the people. As many as 15.8 per cent of the respondents have full trust in Nawaz Sharif, followed by 15.6 per cent in Gen Pervez Musharraf, 14.8 per cent in Benazir Bhutto and only 7.1 per cent in Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

The overall popularity graph of Gen Musharraf is at the downside with 29.7 per cent respondents saying they do not trust him at all, followed by 22.7 per cent having no trust at all in Ms Bhutto, 22.6 per cent having no trust in Shaukat Aziz and 17.6 per cent distrusting Nawaz Sharif.

The respondents were also asked questions relating to the performance of the Musharraf government in different areas. A majority of 36.2 per cent “fully disagree” that corruption has decreased during Gen Musharraf’s rule. The response of only 14.1 per cent agreed with the statement.Similarly, 29.9 per cent of the respondents “fully disagree” that Islamic militants have been kept under control by the Musharraf regime as against only 8.9 per cent who “fully agree” that the regime has controlled the militants.

And 38.4 per cent “fully agree” or “somewhat agree” that the image of Pakistan in the world has improved while 52.3 per cent believes that it is not the case.