According to a Gilani Research Foundation survey carried out by Gallup Pakistan in January, 2011, more than two-third of all Pakistanis surveyed (67 per cent) are of the opinion that the government should take steps for Islamization of the society.
The finding assumes significance in the light of the fact that the world’s attention is focussed on Pakistan as it is slowly emerging as the troublesome ally in the US war against terror. Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces in a nocturnal raid on a compound barely a kilometre from the Pakistan Military Academy at Abbottabad.
Pakistan is also believed to be sheltering al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri, Taliban chief Mullah Omar and Mumbai blast-accused Dawood Ibrahim among others.
However, 48 per cent of the Pakistani people say steps should be taken one by one towards this goal as opposed to 31 per cent who think steps should be taken at once to Islamize the society.
In a survey, a nationally representative sample of men and women from across Pakistan were
asked the following question: “In your opinion, should government take steps to ‘Islamize’ the society?”
Sixty seven percent said yes where as only 13 per cent believed that there is no need for ‘Islamization’. A significant 20 per cent returned no response.
Those who had said that the government should take steps to ‘Islamize’ the society were further asked:
“Should government take steps for Islamization at once or one by one?” Forty eight per cent said that steps should be taken one by one for Islamization while 31 per cent say that steps should be taken at once. 21 per cent could not make up their minds.
The study was released by Gilani foundation and carried out by Gallup Pakistan, the Pakistani affiliate of Gallup International. The recent survey was carried out among a sample of 2,738 men and women in rural and urban areas of all four provinces of the country during January 2011.
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