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PAKISTANI AMERICAN PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
REPORT ON VIEWS OF
PAKISTANI-AMERICANS TOWARD VIOLENT EXTREMISM IN PAKISTAN
May 2009
BACKGROUND:
Pakistan is at a
critical juncture today as it faces a growing militant insurgency that
aims to bring various parts of Pakistan under the control of religious
extremists. Concerns have been raised at multiple levels about the
role and views of the “moderate majority” of Pakistanis and of people
of Pakistani heritage residing in other countries.
The
Pakistani-American community is a vibrant segment of the US
population, noted for its many achievements and contributions to
broader American society. Members of the community also maintain ties
with their country of origin, positioning them uniquely to help
improve communication between the US and Pakistan and strengthen the
relationship between the two countries.
The Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee (PAKPAC) is a
nationwide US-based non-profit lobbying organization registered with
the United States Federal Government. PAKPAC’s mission is to provide a
unified voice on issues and concerns common to the Pakistani-American
community. The organization seeks to foster greater political and
civic engagement amongst Pakistani-Americans, and collaborates
regularly with other regional and national Pakistani-American
organizations. PAKPAC and its affiliates also engage with the media to
identify inaccuracies and bias in media coverage of Pakistan and
Pakistani-Americans. PAKPAC is also involved in educating media
groups, journalists, politicians, academics, and think tanks on the
perspectives and concerns of the Pakistani-American community.
In order to better understand the attitudes of the
Pakistani-American community toward extremism in Pakistan, PAKPAC
undertook a web-based study to help understand community members’
attitudes.
METHOD:
A web-based survey was sent to 3,000 e-mail recipients, of whom 205
responded before the survey closed.
Following are the
questions posed in the survey, along with the multiple-choice answer
choices presented.
Attitudes of Pakistani-Americans Toward Extremism
This survey’s purpose is to quantitatively
understand the Pakistani-American community’s views on the current
rise of extremism in Pakistan.
1. Do you think that religious extremism poses a
problem in Pakistan?
Yes/ No
2. Do you think that the Pakistani-American
community is in denial about the extremism issue in Pakistan?
Yes/ No/ Maybe
3. Do you think that the people of Pakistan are
in denial about extremism in Pakistan?
Yes/ No/ Maybe
4. The "war on terror" in Pakistan is:
…only an American war
…in Pakistan’s best interest
5. Which particular political party is
best-suited to tackle the challenge of extremism in Pakistan?
PPP/ PML-N/ PML-Q/ ANP/ MMA/ MQM/ PTI/ Other
6. What is the single most important challenge
faced by Pakistan?
Extremism/Governance/US Drone Attacks/Sectarian
Violence/Provincialism/Lack of Justice/Indian Intelligence
Activities/Kashmir/Poor education/ other
7. The 1.5 Billion US dollars per year proposed
by the Kerry-Lugar Bill will be:
…ineffective if conditions are placed on the civilian
portions of the bill
…effective in dealing with extremism
irrespective of any conditions attached to the bill
8. Do you think President Obama's
Afghanistan/Pakistan policy is going to solve the region’s problems?
Yes/ No
9. Do you think the current Interior Minister of
Pakistan is capable of managing the challenges in Pakistan?
Yes/ No/ Maybe
10. Do you think a solution to the Kashmir issue
will help address the challenge of extremism in Pakistan?
Yes/ No/ Maybe
11. Is the Pakistani media doing a good job of
highlighting extremism in Pakistan by focusing on real questions and
solutions?
Yes/ No
RESULTS:
94% of the
respondents indicated that they think extremism poses a problem in
Pakistan; however, 38% of respondents felt that the Pakistani-American
community (i.e., their fellow Pakistani-Americans) as a whole is in
denial about the issue of extremism. Likewise, 56% of respondents
indicated that they believe people in Pakistan are in denial about the
problem posed by extremism in Pakistan.
79% of survey
respondents felt that the “war on terror” in Pakistan is being waged
in Pakistan’s best interest, while only 21% felt that it is “only an
American war”.
When asked to
indicate the political party they considered best-suited to address
the challenge of extremism in Pakistan, 41% selected “Other”,
suggesting that they do not have confidence in any of the mainstream
political parties. 24% chose Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI), while 16%
responded in favor of Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N). PML-N
was followed by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with and Muttahida Qaumi
Movement (MQM).
When asked to
identify the single most important issue faced by Pakistan, 32% of
respondents selected “governance”, followed by 26% pointing to
“extremism”. 19% of respondents pointed to “poor education” as the
most important issue, followed by 15% selecting “lack of justice”.
Interestingly, only 0.5% of the people identified
Kashmir as the highest-priority
issue, though in subsequent question a significant number mentioned
that resolution of Kashmir issue would help win the war against
violent extremism.
One of the main
issues surrounding the passage of the proposed Kerry-Lugar bill is
whether conditions will be attached to the civilian assistance portion
of the bill. 60% of survey respondents felt that the bill would not
be effective if conditions are attached to the proposed civilian
assistance; this is in keeping with Vice President Biden’s original
version of the bill, which advocated unconditional civilian
assistance.
When asked if
President Obama’s Afghanistan/Pakistan policy is going to solve the
problems in the region, 74% of responses indicated that they did not
feel it would be successful.
When asked if the
current interior minister in Pakistan is capable of managing the
country’s current challenges, 76% of respondents indicated that they
do not believe he is up to the task. Only 2% of respondents expressed
confidence in the current interior minister, while the remaining 21%
of respondents selected “maybe” as their response.
When asked if
resolving the Kashmir issue would help address the rise of extremism in
Pakistan, 38% of respondents answered
“no”, 35% answered yes, and 28% answered “maybe”. These results
suggest the Pakistani-American community is evenly divided on the
importance of this issue.
When asked to
evaluate the Pakistani media’s role in highlighting extremism in
Pakistan, 56% of respondents felt that the Pakistani media is not
doing a good job.
DISCUSSION:
The majority of
the Pakistani-American community recognizes that religious extremism
poses a significant challenge for Pakistan. However, a significant
minority also believes that their fellow Pakistani-Americans are in
denial about the issue, while a majority believes that Pakistanis (in
Pakistan) are in denial. A clear majority of respondents believe that
the “war on terror” is in Pakistan’s best interest.
The survey
respondents are not clear about which political party may be
bestsuited to address the challenge of extremism in Pakistan. They
identify governance, lack of education, and extremism as the foremost
challenges for Pakistan today. A majority of respondents expressed the
view that attaching conditions to the civilian assistance offered to
the people of Pakistan by the Kerry-Lugar bill would reduce the
effectiveness of the bill. The majority also indicated a lack of
confidence in President Obama’s current policy toward Afghanistan and
Pakistan.
PAKPAC believes that this survey should provide insight into the views
of the Pakistani-American community, which can be an important source
of information and insight for American policymakers as they consider
policy issues and select mechanisms to resolve challenges in the South
Asia region. Based on this initial survey, the Pakistani-American
community clearly feels there are opportunities to improve mutual
understanding and alignment between the US and Pakistan.
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