Pakistanis perceive corruption, not terrorism, as 'biggest threat' facing country

Islamabad, August 23(ANI): A majority of Pakistani people perceive corruption, not terrorism, as the biggest threat facing their country, according to a nationwide analysis.

According to innovative social research carried out by the data-mining wizards at pringit.com, "corruption is- by far- the single most important consideration across the board for all Pakistanis, irrespective of geographic location," Feisal H Naqvi, a Pakistan Supreme Court advocate, wrote in The Express Tribune.

The nationwide analysis by Pringit (described as a Pakistani social network for mobile phone users) found that 42 per cent of Pakistanis think that corruption is the biggest threat facing Pakistan, as opposed to 12 per cent for 'dehshatgardi' or terrorism.

Even across different locations, where the results were separately analysed for Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Islamabad, Multan and Balochistan, corruption was universally perceived as the biggest threat to Pakistan.

"In fact, with the exception of the results for FATA and Peshawar, terrorism was not even the second-most important threat: instead, that spot went to either unemployment or inflation," Naqvi noted.

Overall, economic concerns (corruption, unemployment, inflation) accounted for 80 per cent of public concerns, he added.

The term 'corruption' covers many sins- it refers to the paying of bribes, as well as to a society in which the upper classes can afford to pay 'speed money' but the rest of the people cannot.

"And it refers to public anger at a system so decrepit that none of the simple necessities of life are available without paying extra, often at prices which are not affordable," Naqvi said.

"Let me try to put all of this together. If the polling data is accurate, there is a tidal wave of public anger building up in Pakistan. From what I can gather, there is little or no recognition of this groundswell amongst the established political parties, all of whom seem to be assuming that life consists of mouthing the same old clich?s and all of whom seem to be assuming that the public has no other options," he pointed out. (ANI)