Well, Pakis, In That Case, We’ll Just Have To Kill You
Democracy ranked especially high among the 60 percent of respondents who wanted Muslim-based Sharia law to play a larger role in legal affairs.
Huh? These people just don’t have a fucking clue.
WASHINGTON, Jan 6 - Most Pakistanis want their country to be a democratic Islamic state but are deeply distrustful of the United States and its war on terrorism, according to a poll released on Sunday.
Funded by the U.S. Institute of Peace, or USIP, the poll was taken in the nuclear-armed nation before President Pervez Musharraf’s six-week state of emergency and the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto last month.
The results, released about six weeks before elections scheduled for Feb. 18, show that a large majority of Pakistanis see democracy as fully compatible with Islam, the pollsters said. Democracy ranked especially high among the 60 percent of respondents who wanted Muslim-based Sharia law to play a larger role in legal affairs.
“It shows there is no major Western-oriented secular sub-group in Pakistan. People want more Islam. They don’t think Pakistan is pious enough or that Islamic values are adequately expressed in daily life,” said Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org, a non-profit group affiliated with the University of Maryland that conducted the poll for USIP.
USIP is a non-partisan institution funded by Congress to address issues concerning international conflict.
Pakistan, which has been ruled by the military for more than half of the 61 years since independence in 1947, was under emergency rule from Nov. 3 to Dec. 15, imposed by Musharraf, then military chief as well as president, to combat what he said were threats from Islamic militants.
Kull said a large moderate middle-bloc of voters could be seen in the 64 percent of Pakistanis who said they support government reform of religious schools known as madrassas, which have been blamed for spreading Islamist militancy.
The poll showed that 59 percent of the public want to hold the line against the encroachment of conservative Muslim mores known as “Talibanization,” he said.
But the results also indicated support for Islamist militant groups including al Qaeda among substantial minorities of Pakistanis, and illustrated the huge challenge facing the Bush administration as it pursues relations with its key ally in its war on terrorism.
Over two-thirds of Pakistanis said they do not trust the United States to act responsibly in the world, while 70 percent believe definitely that it is a U.S. goal to weaken and divide the Islam.
About half disapproved of Pakistan’s relations with the United States and said Washington was in control of most or nearly all major events inside their country.
Thirty-one percent expressed a positive view of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, while another 19 percent had mixed feelings about him. Nearly 40 percent opposed capturing bin Laden if he were discovered inside Pakistan.
Fewer than one in four said Pakistan should use military force in the remote Federally Administered Tribal Areas, a region analysts describe as a refuge for the Taliban and al Qaeda and a hub for militant attacks in Afghanistan.
Forty-six percent of respondents instead favored negotiating with the Taliban, while 12 percent said Pakistani forces should be withdrawn from the region.
More than three-quarters said foreign troops should not be allowed to pursue al Qaeda or Taliban fighters inside Pakistan.
Thirty percent of Pakistanis approved of Taliban attacks on NATO troops in Afghanistan while another 18 percent had mixed feelings. Fifteen percent disapproved.
Nine percent said the current Afghan government had the best approach to governing Afghanistan, while 34 percent preferred the former Taliban regime.
(Reuters)
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“The poll showed that 59 percent of the public want to hold the line against the encroachment of conservative Muslim mores known as “Talibanization,” ”
“while 34 percent preferred the former Taliban regime.”
Thank goodness they at least had a majority who opposed a Taliban type regime but good lord. To have as many as 34% supporting it, that is really scary.
That is alot of potential jihadis to eliminate.
Countries like these left to their own devices are nothing but enourmously dangerous. The backwards, regressive and corrupt bastiens of a 5th century mentality and society.
January 7th, 2008 at 3:48 pmThere is no large secular political organization in Pakistan. Paki politics are polluted by the dellusion of Islam.
We should have no qualms about attacking and killing the Islamo-facists in Pakistan. And if a few sympathetic civilians die in the process well…Inshallah mofos.
January 7th, 2008 at 5:17 pm34% is not too far from the figure some polls here in America show believe that Bush perpetrated 9-11 in some super secret fashion.
January 7th, 2008 at 5:56 pmMust be the standard number of imbeciles in any given country.
Pakistan “key ally” in the war on terrorism . . . no more.
Pakistan is good for aiding and abetting Bin Laden, al Q, et al.
January 7th, 2008 at 6:33 pmDAMN IT DAN!!! I am now a fucking Bobble head.
January 7th, 2008 at 8:48 pmYou’re right. Wish I had something original…thanks Dan.
BT:
LOL
January 7th, 2008 at 9:39 pm@BT
I think most of us here feel that way about Dan(The Infidel)! Have been reading Dan’s comments a very long time and I have yet to disagree or be able to add anything. Have learned quite a bit.
January 8th, 2008 at 2:59 am