A majority of Pakistanis feel that President Pervez Musharraf should quit one of the two offices he currently holds and want former prime mjinisters Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to return from exile.
Though many favour Musharraf, they want him to be either President or army chief and not both, an opinion survey conducted in Pakistan by the International Republican Institute, a research organisation of the US Republican Party said.
Details of the survey published by the Dawn newspaper said that two-thirds of Pakistanis want to see the exiled leadership back in the country and take part in elections. Bhutto topped the rating with 18 per cent for the prime minister's job. Present Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz got 15 per cent and Nawaz Sharif 13 per cent. The survey conducted in the months of May and June this year said 77 per cent people think the country needs a very strong and popular leader while 48 per cent said President Musharraf should not hold two offices simultaneously.
However, nearly two-thirds of the respondents approve of the way Musharraf is handling his job. Sixty per cent of the people want a parliamentary system instead of presidential system. Still, half of the respondents consider the role of the army in civilian government as necessary. A total of 3,046 adult Pakistanis, both men and women, from nearly 200 villages and 150 urban locations from all four provinces were randomly selected and interviewed for the poll.
According to the poll, the US Government and its nationals, Al Qaeda and feudal lords are the most disliked foreign and local groups while the ulema and civilian governments are the most liked.
At an individual level, the president and the prime minister received good ratings for their performance, especially from the Sindh province, but another finding rated the government's performance on most issues as poor, with crime, terrorism, employment and provincial autonomy receiving the worst scores. A majority of respondents do not believe in the ability of Musharraf's regime to hold transparent elections and are of the view that a caretaker setup will be more capable. It is generally believed that religious parties, particularly Jamaat-i-Islami, are more organised and were more in touch with their voters.