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Pakistan poll reveals public mistrust

Men carrying grain sacks pass by a horse cart in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on Sunday. Nearly half the Pakistanis who answered a poll said they believed the government was behind the killing of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto last month. PHOTO: AP

Nearly half of Pakistanis surveyed suspect that government agencies or government-linked politicians killed opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, according to an opinion poll highlighting popular mistrust in the country's US-allied president.

Bhutto, a former Pakastani prime minister, was killed in a Dec. 27 gun-and-suicide-bomb attack that the government of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has blamed on Islamic extremists.

Bhutto was a secular politician popular in the US and other Western countries for her opposition to hard-line Islam.

Her political party and family members have accused the government of failing to provide her with sufficient security. Some have made vague allegations that elements within the government may even have been involved. Musharraf has denied any role, and there have been no specific claims of responsibility.

In the results of an opinion poll asking who "killed" Bhutto, released over the weekend, 23 percent of respondents said they suspected government agencies in the slaying, while 25 percent believed government-allied politicians were behind it. Only 17 percent said they suspected al-Qaeda or Taliban operatives.

The poll by Gallup Pakistan, which is affiliated with the Gallup International polling group, questioned 1,300 men and women in face-to-face interviews across Pakistan soon after Bhutto's slaying. It had a margin of error of 5 percent.

Gallup International has no relation with the US-based Gallup group. The two companies split in 1994.

Information Minister Nisar Memon questioned the findings of the survey.

"I don't think this is representative of the thought process of the people of Pakistan, and neither does it reflect the realities," he said. "It is very clear that people know that it is the terrorists who are responsible."

Musharraf seized power eight years ago in a military coup. His popularity has been low amid demands for more democracy.

In separate Pakistan news, two Uzbek militants were killed and one arrested yesterday in Pakistan's tribal region where militants linked to al-Qaeda are active, officials said.

The body of one extremist was found near the Afghan border in South Waziristan and tribesmen shot dead another as they pursued a group of Uzbeks who attacked the house of a pro-government tribal elder on Sunday, they said.

Two Uzbek gunmen were killed in the earlier fighting around the house of pro-government elder Khan Khannan in South Waziristan's Shakai Town. The attackers fled into the mountains, leaving their dead in the area, said the regional administration's senior official, Ayaz Mandokhel.

After finding the third body, Khannan's men from the Wazir tribe came under fire from another Uzbek militant who was hiding in a cave. He was killed in the ensuing clash, Mandokhel said.
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