Most Pakistanis want Musharraf to shed his uniform: Survey

A poll conducted by an US think tank showed that most Pakistanis want President Pervez Musharraf to give up his uniform.

Washington, Aug 10 : A poll conducted by an US think tank showed that most Pakistanis want President Pervez Musharraf to give up his uniform.

The survey by the International Republican Institute found that 62 per cent of respondents thought Musharraf should resign as the Army chief, while 59 per cent said that elections are not going to be free and fair if Musharraf continues in uniform.

The survey found that 62 per cent of people were opposed to Musharraf being elected to a second term by the current assemblies.

Forty-seven per cent of those surveyed supported a pre-election power-sharing deal between former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and President Musharraf, while 37 per cent said they opposed such a move.

Asked if the army should play a role in civilian government, 55 per cent said it should not, while 40 per cent believed it should.

However, 48 per cent said they would support Musharraf's re-election if he first resigned from the army, called parliamentary elections and then sought re-election from the new assemblies.

The randomly selected sample consisted of 4,000 adult men and women from 256 rural and 144 urban locations from 60 districts in the four provinces of Pakistan.

The margin of error for the national sample will not exceed plus, minus 1.58 per cent in 19 out of 20 cases, the Dawn reported.

The survey is aimed to present a "comprehensive analysis of attitudes regarding the Pakistani political landscape."

ANI