Adil Najam
Our most recent ATP Poll on which of Pakistan’s leaders did the most ‘harm’ to Pakistan was a sequel to our earlier poll on who did the most ‘good’, and like its predecessor this poll also generated quite a response – in discussion as well as in polling.
A total of 1,220 votes were cast in this poll by our readers and the discussion was, once again, interesting as well as insightful. As before, the current Pakistani government leadership was not included in the poll – although a poll to ‘grade’ the current government had been conducted recently.
We will leave a detailed analysis of what the results do or do not mean to our readers, but some key aspects are worth highlighting here.
- The poll was open for just around 2 full days and a total of 1,220 votes will polled. Once again, the poll and the discussion showed the passions as well as the thought that our readers put into the question. The poll was closed only after the general percentage for each leader had become fairly stable. Astute readers will note that the totals do not add up to 100. One assumes this is because the service we use simply truncates after the decimal point (instead of rounding it off).
- The result this time was even more clear than in the previous poll. Gen. Zia ul Haq was deemed to have done the most harm to Pakistan, with 42% of those who voted making him their choice. This was exactly twice as many votes as his closed challenger for this dubious title: Gen. Pervez Musharraf had that position in the poll, with 21% of our readers feeling that he had done the most harm to Pakistan. At the third slot was F.M. Ayub Khan with 12% of our readers considering him to have done the most harm. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto – with 10%, 9% and 5% votes, respectively – followed behind them.
- An interesting aspect this time is that the top three slots were held by the three military leaders in the mix – Zia ul Haq, Pervez Musharraf and Ayub Khan. It is indeed remarkable that 75% of our readers – a full 3/4th – believe that the most harm was done by one of these three military rulers!
- One surprise, at least to me, was the very high percentage of readers who considered Ayub Khan to have done the most harm. Before the poll I would have expected this number to be smaller. However, a number of readers made the argument that by setting the country on the path to military rule, it was he who caused the greatest harm.
- Another surprise – given the intensity of the argument against Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto made by many in their comments – was that the number of people who considered Nawaz Sharif to have caused the most harm was about the same as for Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (9% v. 10%). I am still not sure what this might signify.
- I hope that readers will help us in contrasting this poll’s results with the last poll. However, it is quite clear that Gen. Zia ul Haq is clearly the most reviled amongst our readers. The least number of people have voted for him in the ‘good’ he did (2%) and the most voted that he did the most harm (42%). Gen. Pervez Musharraf was ‘second’ in both polls and about a similar proportion (23% v. 21%) felt that he had done the most ‘good’ or caused the most ‘harm’ to Pakistan. Similarly Ayub Khan was ‘third’ in each poll (15% v. 12%, respectively). Although any statistical aggregation is problematic in such polls, overall it does seem that our readership is most sympathetic and partial to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto – 36% of our readers considered him to have done the most ‘good’ for Pakistan while only 10% of the readership believe that he did the most harm.
Those are just some preliminary and quick thoughts from me in looking at the results. Do tell us what you think, dear readers.
History is the best judge of all. 30 years after Bhutto’s hanging, his son-in-law, who was not even in the picture at that time, is the President just because of his association with Bhutto name. Meanwhile Ejaz ul Haq, the son of the person who hanged Bhutto, could not even find a party to give him a ticket to run in the election.
The poll is unfair to Nawaz, he should at least get half of Zia`s points. He was with him all thge time and is still very dangerousman for pakistan. If he win nest election, he`ll loot more then before. He has not learned from past after he return from abroad, he has had a examen nephew pass guy to help him(our future education minister), a creditcard lady(our future finance -minister) and a rapist mna(our future wemen rights activist of PML-N).
People wants to be fooled by the sher one more time.
Some comments from the ATP Facebook Page:
– “Division on Musharraf Government’s performance is quite CLEAR”
– “Best news here is that people clearly like elected leaders more than military ones. All three worst ones are military.”
– “ZIA UL HAQ, the hypocrite.”
– “Also, it is clear that everyone thinks Zia was the worst. He was.”
– “zIa uL HaQ WaS Da aWnLy lEaDeR V HaD…!!!”
– “It looks like it all went downhill once Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged. Very unfortunate! Since this incident predates my birth, I’ve yet to understand that how people of Pakistan allowed it to happen?”
– “zia ul haq was sincere wid pakistan atleast…but the others are dealing wid pakistan as their own property”
– “you ask about Bhutto? lolss.. mate wake up.. you should be asking first about who killed Fatima Jinnah at her house..!! and who had master minded it..seriously.. If someone really wants to understand the state of this countrys real failure.. then point not at blind targets.. search WHEN and WHO and give the thought a START..”
– “Zia ul haq was the worst leader in the history of Pakistan. Actually he was not a leader he was army dictater. He demolished our economy our freedom.”
– “zia the deweller of hell for what he did to this nation”
– “and where is zardari??????”
– “At the time Zia was ruling. Russia took over Afghanistan. USA needed Pakistan. Pakistan with low self esteem failed to make deals on the terms many of us wish today. Why don’t in poles we add USA as well. As per Hilary’s videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM1BG_NnHaA if she admits they have done bad to Pakistan. Why we do not blame the leaders of the world who used Pakistan.”
– “This is why I have problems with websites like Pakistaniat and many other writers , They keep on making us hate our own while outsiders did the real deeds.”
– “zIA WAS GOOD PERSON HE sAVE US fROM RASSIA”
– “Z for zia-ul-haq Z for zardari….”
– “”elite” class of the country hates Zia-ul-Haq because he was somewhat “pro islamist” and discouraged glamor-ism or “aurat ki aazadi” (or should we call it “Fahaashi”). Musharraf, on the other hand promoted values of Zameen and Kameen and it viewed differently amongst the same “elite” class…. I think poll should have been targeted to some specific topic like “Who Did The Most Harm to (1) general public, (2) politics or (3) foreign policy” etc.”
@Waseem
Zia ul Haq is despised because empowered the mad mullah and created the barbaric Jehadi monster, which is eating Pakistan alive today.
You don’t have to be elite to recognize how bad a ruler Zia ul Haq was that 20 years after his death, his demons continue to injure the country.
Clearly a pro PPP anti-army audience on ATP. Sad.