ISLAMABAD: In recent weeks, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has been ranked the most popular politician in the country, leaving many heavy weights behind.
The latest among these surveys is the one conducted by the think tank YouGov@Cambridge, the University of Cambridge, which said 77 percent of the people surveyed, considered Imran as the best suited (first & second choice) politician to lead Pakistan in comparison to 11 percent for Nawaz Sharif, 13 percent for Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and just 01 percent for Pervez Elahi.
The survey also reveals that 94 percent of the respondents feel that there is widespread corruption in the government with 88 percent consider police and other law enforcement agencies as the most corrupt.
It notes that 74 percent of the respondents consider the US government at war with the Muslim world. And 84 percent of the respondents oppose the presence of the US troops in Pakistan. About 70 percent of them reject US aid with 86 percent opposing US drone attacks.
Earlier, the US-based PEW survey had ranked the PTI chairman as the most popular politician with 78 percent of the people surveyed. Afterwards, the Newsweek Pakistan noted Imran enjoyed 86 percent popularity while none of among others was even given 6 per cent votes in its poll, involving 97,000 plus voters.
One wonders if these polls have reflected opinion of the majority that the cricketer-turned politician, who enjoyed impeccable reputation earlier as a sportsman and then as a political figure, be able to retain it and then on the election day, sweep the show.
If one goes by his party’s performance till 2002, as his PTI had boycotted the 2008 general election under the banner of All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM), a significant show by it in a next such exercise, appeared almost impossible, a political observer said.
“You will see PTI’s brilliant performance if and when elections are to be held. It will be surprising for everyone,” claimed PTI Vice-President Akbar Sher Babar, when approached for his comment on the matter.
The recently appointed vice president, who is responsible for information and media, did not agree with this correspondent that his party had no candidates with impressive political background to challenge the heavy weights in so many NA constituencies.
“Our candidates will spring a surprise on the voting day. So many known politicians are in touch with us to join the PTI, but we will be extremely careful in welcoming them,” he maintained. When asked would they be accommodating persons like Ijaz Khan Jazi, a local politician from Rawalpindi, who had bagged around 12,000 votes as an independent candidate in one of the by-elections but hardly 4,000 voted for him when he joined the PTI and took part in a similar election more than two years back, he preferred only to smile in response.
He claimed that coming on the heels of the PEW Survey that ranked Imran as the most popular leader with 78 percent of the people surveyed, the latest survey further reinforced the shifting political ground realities.
The findings of these credible surveys conducted by internationally renowned research organisations, he contended, were a solid proof that the people of Pakistan were fed up with the present PPP and PML-N leadership and wanted a change.
He said those who ridiculed the results of these surveys were on record of using the same surveys to claim their popularity, including Mohtaram Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, prior to the 2008 elections.
“It is for the first time in recent political history that a party that is not represented in the provincial assemblies, the Senate, and the National Assembly, is coming out as the most popular political force with its leader Imran Khan as the most popular politician to lead Pakistan,” he said.
The findings of the public opinion surveys, he noted, showed the complete lack of trust by the people in the leadership of the political parties now represented in parliament elected through fraudulent means with 45 percent bogus votes under the ill famous NRO.
Asked then why his party desisted from taking part in the recently-held AJK elections, he said the central executive committee had decided to do so as voter lists there, were also replete with bogus voters, as had been the case with regards to 2008 elections in Pakistan: the Supreme Court ordered deletion of 37 million bogus voters from the electoral rolls.




Imran most popular politician: survey