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Islamabad: Sympathy for Al Qaida chief Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban has dropped sharply in Pakistan amid a wave of deadly violence, according to the results of a recent opinion poll.
The survey also identified the party of assassinated opposition leader Benazir Bhutto as the country's most popular ahead of February 18 elections, and said most Pakistanis want President Pervez Musharraf to quit.
The poll, conducted last month for the US-based Terror Free Tomorrow organisation, suggests Pakistanis are looking to peaceful opposition groups after months of political turmoil and a wave of suicide attacks.
In the latest bloodshed, a bomber blew himself up at an opposition rally in the northwestern town of Charsadda on Saturday, killing 27 people and injuring 50.
According to the poll results only 24 per cent of Pakistanis approved of Bin Laden when the survey was conducted last month, compared with 46 per cent during a similar survey in August.
Backing for Al Qaida, whose senior leaders are believed to be hiding along the Pakistani-Afghan border, fell to 18 per cent from 33 per cent.
Support for the Taliban, whose Pakistani offshoots have seized control of much of the lawless border area and have been engaged in a growing war against security forces, dropped by half to 19 per cent from 38 per cent, the results said.
Also, in a sharp rebuke to Musharraf - who seized power in a 1999 coup and whose standing has slumped since he tried to fire Pakistan's chief justice last March - 70 per cent of voters think he should quit immediately.
Terror Free Tomorrow is a bipartisan group that seeks to reduce support for international terrorism.
Its advisory board includes likely Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain and Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman who helped lead a study of White House Iraq policy last year. The group's president, Ken Ballen, says the advisory board plays no role in individual polls.
The survey, based on interviews with 1,157 people across Pakistan from January 19-29, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Only one per cent of Pakistani voters would cast their ballots in favour of Al Qaida if it was running in parliamentary elections, the survey results said, adding that the Taliban would get 3 per cent.
The party of another former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, scored 25.3 per cent, pushing the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Q into third place with just 12 per cent.
Pakistanis remain distrustful of the president and his authorities, especially the shadowy intelligence agencies.
Opposition parties accuse authorities of trying to rig the elections to prevent the formation of a hostile parliament which could impeach Musharraf.
The poll found that 58 per cent of respondent voters suspected Musharraf, allied politicians or government agencies were responsible for Bhutto's death. Only 7 per cent thought Al Qaida or the Taliban were behind her slaying.
Charge
Kabul backs official's view
Afghanistan said yesterday it backed a senior US official's assertion that Al Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden and Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar were operating from neighbouring Pakistan.
Afghanistan has long said Al Qaida and Taliban leaders receive safe refuge in parts of Pakistan's lawless tribal regions, souring relations between the neighbours. But since a large tribal council last August, the two countries agreed to work more closely to fight the joint militant threat and ties have improved.
The US official said Bin Laden, his deputy Ayman Al Zawahiri and other network members were operating out of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, bordering Afghanistan.
Mullah Omar and other ousted Afghan Taliban leaders, meanwhile, were directing insurgent operations in Afghanistan from the Pakistani city of Quetta, said the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Pakistan has rejected the charge, but a spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai welcomed it."We are glad that finally a high-ranking American official confirmed this matter," said spokesman Humayun Hamidzada.
- Reuters
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