News
Monday, December 25, 2006
Half of Pakistanis not keen on democracy* Six out of 10 people favour army rule
* More support for democracy in South Asia than in East Asia and Latin AmericaISLAMABAD: People in South Asia overwhelmingly support democracy, except in Pakistan, where about half the respondents in a survey said that democratic or non-democratic forms of government made no difference to them.
Sri Lanka emerged as the country where democracy was most popular, while India was third after Bangladesh in terms of the percentage of people expressing support for the democratic system in the study, ‘State of Democracy in South Asia’.
“The people not only approve of democratic arrangements, they find it suitable for their own contexts. Seven out of eight responses in the region, higher than in East Asia, held that democracy was ‘suitable’ or ‘very suitable’ for their own country,” the report said.
The study found that the citizens of South Asia do not simply like democracy; they prefer it over authoritarian rule. “With the exception of Pakistan, about two-thirds of those who responded preferred democracy over any other form of government,” the report said.
For every one response that endorses dictatorship, there are six that prefer democracy, which compares favourably with the ratio obtained in East Asia, Latin America and post-Soviet era countries of Europe.
However, about a quarter in other countries and half the respondents in Pakistan said democratic or non-democratic forms of government made no difference to them.
Also, there is majority support for army rule in Pakistan and Bangladesh, the two countries in the region with a record of army rule. “The idea that the country should be governed by the army was endorsed by six out of every 10 responses in Pakistan and Bangladesh,” said the report prepared by the CSDS in collaboration with the International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Stockholm and Department of Sociology, Oxford University.
The least support for army rule is in India, the report said, adding the higher the education, the lower the support for the army.
The survey was conducted in five South Asian countries – Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
“The world since 9/11 has seen the rise of another hypothesis of ‘disconnect’ between Islam and democracy. South Asia is home to over a quarter of the global Muslim population. Muslims are either the majority or a significant minority in all the five countries of this region,” the report said. “Thus, if the citizens in this region support democracy, this would have implications beyond South Asia,” it added. sana
Courtesy DailyTimes.com.pk