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.
@Aqil,
Anti-PPP forces have held power in at least 25 out of last 32 years–most of the time absolute power over all constituent units of Pakistan, unlike PPP’s diluted rules– and in that period not only Zia’s ‘White Papers’ but also relentless propaganda, persecution and state machinery was used to malign ZAB, BB and indeed the entire PPP. But none of that has done the kind of damage it would have done had the Bhuttos and PPP really deserved. Yes, enough damage is done to remove PPP from Punjab but even there is a PPP presence.
Indeed, enough ‘scrutiny’ has been done but apparantly not enough for you and your kind.
You are a pathological Bhutto-hater.
The votes for the military dictators are well deserved and show a growing concensus against military rule. That’s the good part. The bad part is that ZAB gets off the hook so easily and there is no honest and open discussion about him. The other bad thing is that while the votes for Zia are in genuine recognition of the evil he was, it’s not clear how many of the votes for Ayub and Mush were based on real issues (and there are plenty of genuine issues there) instead of just the fact that this is an army bashing season.
If the negative role of the military is recognized today, it is because there has been a long campaign aimed at criticizing it and highlighting its misdeeds. However, sadly, some of it has been done with the aim of projecting the PPP in a very positive light, and to a lesser extent the PML-N as well. The crimes of the politicians have been downplayed, especially those of ZAB. And this is a part of our history that we do not yet seem willing to confront. If and when we start doing that, then I’m sure, ZAB would also be up there with Ayub, Mush and Zia as one of the people who did very substantial harm to Pakistan.
the poll does seem to portray the views of mostly the educated class, but that does not mean that the entire nation’s views can be generalised according to it.
as for AMIN, who seems to have the misconception that ayub khan grabbed power after the quaid’s death, let me give you a lesson on pakistani history: the coup d’etat after which gen. ayub came to power, was initiated by the then president, Iskander Mirza. it was not some scheme of his to fulfill his hunger for power. and need i remind you that the GDP was 8% in his time, the only time pakistan ever raeched that figure. so how is it possible for him to “100% harmful” for the nation?
I like what you have done on yoru Facebook page. Put the “shararti logoun” picture with this post.
I agree with argument about ATP demographics is nonsense. If anything the more educated Pakistanis are usually more anti-Bhutto and pro-military and pro-PPP. So a nation wide poll will have same results but even more worse for Musharraf and even better for Bhutto.
Very good set of polls. Most imp they make you think. The numbers dont matter but the question makes you think.
The ATP demographics argument does not make any sense to me. The results would be even more skewed if people living in rural areas, etc had been polled. No one can even begin to argue that Zia or Musharraf have more well-wishers in rural than in urban areas; in fact, it is quite the opposite.