A majority of Pakistanis don’t approve of Islamabad’s decision to join the US-led war on terror but, at the same time, they don’t believe that the Taliban are fighting for Islam, according to a survey carried out by the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (Pips).
Findings of the “Radicalisation in Pakistan” survey released on Tuesday show that 63.6 per cent of the respondents were against joining the war on terror, and 46.3pc were of the opinion that the Taliban were not fighting for Islam.
Even among those who sounded sympathetic to the militant organisation, 39.7pc condemned its acts of violence, such as attacks on girls’ schools, cinemas and CD shops. But about 22pc of them did not know how to respond to such acts.
According to the survey report, Taliban has sympathisers mostly in Balochistan (49.4pc) and Punjab (30.1pc) who believe that they are fighting for Islam.
Surprisingly, there are not many Taliban sympathisers in Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Only 22pc respondents in Fata and 25.3pc in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa believe the Taliban are fighting for Islam.
However, 45.7pc of the respondents in Fata did not respond to the question.
The report reveals that Taliban do not enjoy much support in Sindh, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The respondents appeared concerned about the condition of Muslims and 77.7pc thought that they lagged behind other nations. Most of them (31.2pc) were of the opinion that this is because they had deviated from Islam. Only 18.1pc maintained that it was due to their backwardness in the fields of science and technology.
Another significant finding is that a large number of people (46.8pc) want religio-political parties given a chance to rule the country, despite the fact that the electoral performance of these parties were not “impressive’ in October 2002 when analysts attributed whatever success they achieved to the strong anti-American sentiments in the country.
The respondents also expressed interesting views on Jihad.
Very few (2.7pc) were of the view that Muslims had failed to progress in the world because they had lost their passion to fight against their enemies. About 28pc people believed that Jihad should be waged against cruelty and not to spread Islam to every corner of the world as five per cent of the respondents believed.
A large number of the respondents (20.4pc) were concerned about religious differences in the country. They blamed these disagreements for sectarianism and religious extremism.
However, a large number of people (21.6pc) did not take the disagreements seriously and said that these had been preordained and prophesied. The survey clearly captures growing religiosity among the masses.
Not surprisingly, 65pc of the respondents said a person who did not pray five times a day could not become a better Muslim. Nearly 59pc of them said the struggle for implementation of Sharia was also Jihad.
However, about 81pc of the respondents considered female education as “extremely necessary” and only a small percentage (12.5) thought it was “not very important”.
Nearly 23pc of the people surveyed said they did not listen to music, and (15.8pc) of them said it was because of religious reasons.
Interestingly, 51pc of the total sample endorsed Junaid Jamshaid’s decision to quit singing.
The respondents were from all urban and rural areas in the four provinces, Fata, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir (excluding military restricted areas).
The survey population was selected through probability/random sampling. Most of the people (53.4 and 14.8pc, respectively) belonged to urban areas and small towns. But a significant proportion (29.9pc) came from the rural community. A large majority of the respondents were either in intermediate (29.3pc) or pursuing a graduation or master’s degree (37.5pc).
Only 8.3pc of the people were not literate and 2.2pc had received only madressah education.
Interestingly, the general perception about the wars in Afghanistan and Kashmir is at variance with the recent militant discourse.
Findings of the “Radicalisation in Pakistan” survey released on Tuesday show that 63.6 per cent of the respondents were against joining the war on terror, and 46.3pc were of the opinion that the Taliban were not fighting for Islam.
Even among those who sounded sympathetic to the militant organisation, 39.7pc condemned its acts of violence, such as attacks on girls’ schools, cinemas and CD shops. But about 22pc of them did not know how to respond to such acts.
According to the survey report, Taliban has sympathisers mostly in Balochistan (49.4pc) and Punjab (30.1pc) who believe that they are fighting for Islam.
Surprisingly, there are not many Taliban sympathisers in Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Only 22pc respondents in Fata and 25.3pc in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa believe the Taliban are fighting for Islam.
However, 45.7pc of the respondents in Fata did not respond to the question.
The report reveals that Taliban do not enjoy much support in Sindh, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The respondents appeared concerned about the condition of Muslims and 77.7pc thought that they lagged behind other nations. Most of them (31.2pc) were of the opinion that this is because they had deviated from Islam. Only 18.1pc maintained that it was due to their backwardness in the fields of science and technology.
Another significant finding is that a large number of people (46.8pc) want religio-political parties given a chance to rule the country, despite the fact that the electoral performance of these parties were not “impressive’ in October 2002 when analysts attributed whatever success they achieved to the strong anti-American sentiments in the country.
The respondents also expressed interesting views on Jihad.
Very few (2.7pc) were of the view that Muslims had failed to progress in the world because they had lost their passion to fight against their enemies. About 28pc people believed that Jihad should be waged against cruelty and not to spread Islam to every corner of the world as five per cent of the respondents believed.
A large number of the respondents (20.4pc) were concerned about religious differences in the country. They blamed these disagreements for sectarianism and religious extremism.
However, a large number of people (21.6pc) did not take the disagreements seriously and said that these had been preordained and prophesied. The survey clearly captures growing religiosity among the masses.
Not surprisingly, 65pc of the respondents said a person who did not pray five times a day could not become a better Muslim. Nearly 59pc of them said the struggle for implementation of Sharia was also Jihad.
However, about 81pc of the respondents considered female education as “extremely necessary” and only a small percentage (12.5) thought it was “not very important”.
Nearly 23pc of the people surveyed said they did not listen to music, and (15.8pc) of them said it was because of religious reasons.
Interestingly, 51pc of the total sample endorsed Junaid Jamshaid’s decision to quit singing.
The respondents were from all urban and rural areas in the four provinces, Fata, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir (excluding military restricted areas).
The survey population was selected through probability/random sampling. Most of the people (53.4 and 14.8pc, respectively) belonged to urban areas and small towns. But a significant proportion (29.9pc) came from the rural community. A large majority of the respondents were either in intermediate (29.3pc) or pursuing a graduation or master’s degree (37.5pc).
Only 8.3pc of the people were not literate and 2.2pc had received only madressah education.
Interestingly, the general perception about the wars in Afghanistan and Kashmir is at variance with the recent militant discourse.
1 comment:
STRATEGY TO PUNISH AND FIRE
I made a drastic mistake by hiring a guy to my team without consulting my best friend Stephen while he was on a business trip to China. I also hired another friend named Wendy to the same department who was in the job market after getting laid off from another company in town. I learnt many things about the guy I hired from Wendy. After Stephen returned to town I had a private meeting with Stephen and Wendy to find information about the guy I mistakenly hired. After speaking with Stephen and Wendy I realized I made a mistake by hiring a wrong individual to my team as he did not fit into my team. We tried to convince the guy to leave the company but he never received the message. We then created an atmosphere for the guy to feel that he does not fit in and forced him out. That worked out for the Dumb Ass to leave my group, but not the company. After leaving my group the Dumb Ass stayed in another group. We still did not like that Dumb Ass as he did not fit to our company. Since I am a fighter, I decided to step in and convince the management to get rid of him once in for all. We planned and fed wrong information to the department’s governing body and the human resources to force the Dumb Ass out of the company tangling him on false charges. The guy was harassed few times by everybody in the management. Management was careful when they were kicking him out. Management created false documents and retained them in his personnel file to justify the guy’s termination. I cannot believe that this strategy to get rid of a guy that I mistakenly hired was really worked.
Roberta Santos-Constantino
LVSC Information Technology
One Team - Global
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