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Most Pakistanis want Musharraf to go

ISLAMABAD: Two opinion polls this week, both conducted by U.S. organisations with links to the Republican party, are telling Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf that most of his countrymen think he must quit immediately and that the party he cobbled together in 2002 with a list of defectors is on its way out, while the opposition Pakistan People’s Party is all set to emerge as the single largest party.

The official news agency Associated Press of Pakistan quoted an unnamed government spokesman trashing the surveys as an “unfortunate attempt to distort realities” and mislead voters before the February 18 elections.

Terror-Free Tomorrow, a U.S. organisation which has Republican presidential front runner John McCain on its advisory board, and the International Republican Institute, which is affiliated to the U.S.

Republican Party, released the findings of their surveys that put the opposition PPP and the PML(N) on top of the race in that order, while the PML(Q), which ruled Pakistan from 2002 to 2007 hand in hand with General (Retd.) Musharraf, lags way behind.

The TFT survey showed 36 per cent of respondents favour the PPP, and 25.3 per cent the PML(N), while only 12 per cent said they would vote for the PML(Q).

In the IRI survey, the two main opposition parties together get the backing of an overwhelming 72 per cent of the respondents, while 79 per cent said that if the PML(Q) wins, they would consider the polls rigged. Both surveys found that most respondents want Gen. Musharraf to step down. In the TFT survey, 70 per cent wanted him to quit, while in the IRI survey, 75 per cent wanted to him step down immediately.

An additional four per cent said his resignation would be good for the country.

The unnamed government spokesman called it a “strange coincidence” that both surveys were conducted between January 19 and 29.

He said the polls were based on unrepresentative samples and asked newspaper managements to “exercise their judgement” before giving publicity to such “biased” surveys.

“The spokesman said it is not understood what prompts the TFT and IRI to dispute the popularity of President Pervez Musharraf who is a symbol of the federation, particularly at a time when people are going to decide their fate in the upcoming general elections,” APP reported.

According to the IRI survey, the PPP has made substantial gains after Benazir’s assassination in December. But 94 per cent of the respondents said their top concern as voters were economic issues including the shortages of wheat, power, and gas. Half the respondents said they would vote for the PPP, while 22 per cent said they would vote for PML(N).

As many as 93 per cent of the respondents said Benazir’s killing had weakened the Pakistani state as a federation. The IRI survey additionally said that most respondents want Makhdoom Amin Fahim, the vice-chairman of the PPP, rather than Benazir’s husband Asif Zardari to lead the party until Bilawal Bhutto, Benazir’s son, came of age.

As many as 77 per cent said they want Mr. Fahim to be the PPP’s candidate for Prime Minister, and 32 per cent said he would be the best person to lead Pakistan, while Nawaz Sharif came second with 23 per cent. Only eight per cent said they want Gen. Musharraf to lead the country.

Both surveys also found that that people were overwhelmingly against extremism.

The TFT survey showed only 24 per cent Pakistanis approved of Osama bin laden, and support for Al-Qaeda was 18 per cent, while 19 per cent supported the Taliban.

Mr. Zardari, co-chairman of the PPP, welcomed the IRI poll and said it was “a vindication” of its position that only massive rigging could stop the party from sweeping the polls.

In a statement, he warned the regime to read the writing on the wall and desist from rigging the polls on election day. Quoting the survey’s findings that more than 50 per cent of respondents said people would take to the streets if the polls were rigged, Mr. Zardari said it should be an eye-opener that “stealing the polls and manipulating the people’s will on February 18 will have disastrous consequences for the Federation.”

The polls results showed that the people of Pakistan favoured the forces of change, he said.

In Islamabad, Benazir’s posthumously published book “Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West” was launched by the PPP at a massive function.

Speakers underlined the need for Pakistan to take responsibility for the militancy that has placed the country on the brink, to rethink its strategic depth policy in Afghanistan, and to stop the “double-dealing” with the Taliban. “We have to give up the ambition of ruling Afghanistan, when we cannot even rule our own country,” said Ahmed Rashid, author of the best-selling book “Taliban”.

Amid suicide attacks and fears of more violence ahead of the election, troops have begun to be deployed in Sindh ahead of next Monday’s elections. The province has been restive since the assassination of Benazir, and witnessed large-scale violence in its aftermath.

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