A Less Gloomy Mood in Pakistan
PEW survey on public support of Politicians
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Nawaz still enjoys significant public support: PEW survey
Nawaz still enjoys significant public support: PEW survey
Even as thousands of protesters, respectively led by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami (PAT) chief Dr Tahirul Qadri, descended on Islamabad against the Nawaz Sharif led government, a survey by the Pew Research Centre shows that the under fire premier enjoys significant public support.
According to the report, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif enjoys 64% favourable opinion, slightly lower than the 66% he enjoyed just a few weeks before the May 2013 elections. In contrast, 32% viewed him unfavourably.
These are among the major findings from the latest survey in Pakistan by the Pew Research Center, based on face-to-face interviews conducted with 1,203 respondents from April 15 to May 7, 2014. The sample covers approximately 82% of the country’s adult population.
Imran Khan, who has been demanding that the premier resign to pave way for a transparent investigation into the reports of rigging in the 2013 elections, was seen favourably as well with 53% reviews against 24% negative reviews. However, the PTI chief’s ratings have slipped by 17% since elections last May.
The mood surrounding the current political and economic situation in the country, while less than happy, it is more positive than in recent years. While only 25% of the respondents were satisfied with the way things are in Pakistan, this is more than 8% who felt that way in 2013. Those who were optimistic about the economy have more than doubled since last year, rising from 17% to 37%. And 36% expect the economy to improve further in the next 12 months.
Pakistan, which has seen four military led governments, 87% of the respondents believe that the army is having a good influence on the nation. Up from 79% near the May 2013 elections.
The poll found little support for extremist groups in Pakistan, against whom the army launched an operation in June. Only 8% gave the Taliban a positive rating and just 12% said they have a favorable opinion of al Qaeda.
India still the biggest enemy
When asked to rate the greatest threat facing their country , 51% of Pakistanis pointed towards India.
Roughly seven-in-ten (71%) expressed an unfavorable view of India, while only 13% give it a positive rating.
At the time of the survey, conducted before results for the recent Indian national elections were announced, 62% of Pakistanis did not know enough about India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi to say whether they had confidence in his ability to do the right thing in world affairs. Just over a third (36%) said they have little or no confidence in Modi to do the right thing in world affairs, while only 1% expressed confidence in Modi.
US still viewed unfavourably
Negative views of the United States and Obama still prevail in Pakistan. Only 14% give the US a favorable rating, and just 7% have confidence in President Barack Obama.
Still, the percentage of Pakistanis voicing a negative views of the US and Obama has declined slightly over the last few years.
Very few Pakistanis give President Barack Obama a positive review. Only 7% say they have confidence that Obama will do the right thing in world affairs. While half (52%) of all respondents lack confidence in the American leader, unchanged from 2013, but that perception was down from a peak of 68% in 2011. Fully 41% offer no opinion about Obama.
Drone strikes remain unpopular too. Two-in-three Pakistanis oppose US drone attacks, while just 3% approve and 30% offer no opinion. Two-thirds of Pakistanis also believe that drone strikes kill too many innocent people, and only 21% think they are necessary to defend the country from extremist groups. Roughly four-in-ten (41%) say the drone strikes are being conducted without the approval of Pakistan’s government.
Monday, August 25, 2014
Photo Gallery
Istehkam e Pakistan Rallies
Hyderabad
Mandi Yazman
Muree
Rahim Yar Khan
Faisalabad
Islamabad
Lahore
Karachi
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Minus One formula not accepted | Ishaq Dar
Interview | Ishaq Dar
This Interview was published in Nidai Millat dated 14 August, 2014.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Model Town Incident | JIT finds no role of PM and Cm
JIT finds no role of PM, Punjab CM, others
by Usman Manzoor
ISLAMABAD: The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on Model Town killings, represented by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) besides others, has not found any conspiracy orchestrated by Prime Minister, Punjab Chief Minister, any federal or provincial minister or any of the civil servants.
Well-placed sources told The News that the JIT, comprising ISI, MI, special branch, Police, CIA, IB, after interrogation and investigation has concluded that the unfortunate event on June 17 which resulted in killing of 14 people was a product of spur of the moment and not because of any pre-planned conspiracy as accused by Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) leader Tahirul Qadri.
The sources said that as per JIT report the SP Model Town ordered policemen to open fire (aerial as per SP’s statement) after PAT’s workers opened fire on police.Moreover, the sources maintained that the JIT had concluded that all the policemen visible in the videos of the event told the JIT that they were ordered by their Superintendent of Police (SP) Model Town. They did not name anyone else. While the SP Model Town told the JIT that he only ordered for aerial firing and not the direct firing, the sources added. The sources said that none of the persons interviewed by the JIT named any other officers but the SP Model Town who ordered them to open fire. No one even named CCPO Lahore or Inspector General of Police or the Home Secretary i.e. the officers not present on the scene, let alone Rana Sanaullah, Punjab former law minister or Dr Tauqir Shah, former Secretary to CM, or Punjab chief minister or the prime minister.
The JIT has also not indicted any of the 21 persons against whom Dr Tahirul Qadri had submitted application for registration of FIR. Because the JIT could not interrogate the other party, it would therefore submit its challan of whatever it had gathered and concluded so far to the Punjab government which would likewise be presented before the court.
Progress in Pakistan Railways
PR to resume ‘cargo express’ from Sept 2
LAHORE: After a lapse of more than three years, the Pakistan Railways (PR) will resume its cargo express train between Lahore’s Badami Bagh station and Karachi from Sept 2.
Initially, the cargo train between Badami Bagh and Karachi was started in 1992 by contracting out its idle cargo wagons to private parties on round-trip per wagon rate basis. After a year, the train route was extended up to Gujranwala on the demand of the business community.
An official of the railways commercial wing told Dawn that the daily earnings of the 27-wagon cargo express could have been much more than any passenger train being operated under the public-private-partnership on the same route.
“The Shalimar Express is paying Rs1,751,934, Night Coach Rs1,731,308 and Business Express Rs2,227,618 per day to the railways while the recently launched container service is not meeting its operational cost yet.”
The railways is losing at least Rs3.15 million per day by not operating the cargo train, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The operation of the cargo train was suspended on April 13, 2010, without any reason. The contractors had offered to enhance the per wagon rate, but railway authorities preferred inviting fresh tenders. In the re-bidding process, railways insisted on Rs96,600 round-trip charges per wagon against the Rs80,000 offered by the contractors.
The operation of cargo express was thrice suspended as railways authorities asked the contractors to increase payments and invited fresh tenders. The affected contractors moved the Lahore High Court and got relief.
In pursuit of the orders of Justice Shujaat Ali Khan, the then GM (Operations) submitted under his Arbitration Award (dated July 10, 2013) that the PR would introduce this train on availability of locomotives preferably from the first week of September 2013. In the first phase, the cargo train was to be operated twice a week and later on a daily basis.
However, instead of implementing the Arbitration Award, the railways started adopting delaying tactics holding meetings with contractors and making false promises, said the PR official. In the first meeting on Aug 27, 2013, a committee of PR marketing, commercial and accounts officers asked the contractors to enhance the freight charges to Rs130,000 per wagon roundtrip and promised to resume train operations immediately.
In the second meeting, on Sept 3, the railway authorities informed the contractors that the trains operation would restart from Nov 1, 2013. In the third meeting on Oct 22, the PR authorities reiterated their resolve to resume the operation of cargo express initially once in a week and to increase its frequency on availability of more locomotives.
“Since Jan 10, 2011, the PR has been losing a huge amount daily and the railways high-ups seemed least interested in utilising the available resources of the organisation to generate revenue,” said the official.
Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2014
Column | On the PM Nawaz Sharif and IK meeting in Bani Gala
Abdul Qadir Hassan | Beautiful politics of Nawaz Sharif
This column was published in daily Express on March 15, 2014
A column on Progress in Pakistan
Altaf Hassan Qureshi | Ahead Port Qasim
This column was published in Daily Jang, dated May 12, 2014.
