Pakistanis want a radicalised Pakistan: Poll

Two in three Pakistanis or 67 percent of the country's population have said that they support the imposition of Sharia as the only law, suggesting that Pakistan has become increasingly radicalized.

According to a joint poll prepared and carried out by Gallup Pakistan and the Gilani Research Foundation, seven years ago, only 51 percent of those surveyed had said that the Sharia should be the only law applicable to their society. Today, only five percent of those surveyed this year have said that they are not in favour of the Sharia being imposed on society.

The Gallup Pakistan-Gilani Research Foundation survey said that they asked a nationally representative sample of men and women from all four provinces of Pakistan (Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtukhwa) what described their understanding of Sharia and its implementation in Pakistan, and 67 percent said that the Sharia should be the only law, 24 percent said that the Sharia should be the law, but not the only law (that is other legislation is also possible, while five percent said Sharia should not be the law of the land, while four percent said they had no opinion on the matter.

In 2010, 51 percent said Sharia should be the only law, 30 percent said Sharia should not be the only law applicable, eight percent said Sharia should not be the law of the land and 11 percent said they had no opinion or view on the matter.

If a comparison is done over the change in the mindset of Pakistanis, then the poll finds that there is a 16 percent increase in the proportion of Pakistanis who have become more radicalized and believe that Sharia should be the only law, while there is a six percent decrease in the proportion of Pakistanis who say Sharia should not be the only law.

The survey was carried out recently. Around 1846 men and women took part in it, and they were from both rural and urban areas in all four provinces.

The margin of error in the survey was approximately ± 2-3 per cent at 95 percent confidence level.

. Pakistan's current population is 196,397,041 as of Friday, June 2, 2017, based on the latest United Nations estimates.

. Pakistan population is equivalent to 2.62 percent of the total world population.

. Pakistan ranks sixth in list of countries (and dependencies) by population.

The population density in Pakistan is 255 per Km2 (661 people per mi2). The Shia population is pegged at least 16 million, while the Sunni population is a majority of 95 to 97 percent.

. Pakistan's total land area is 770,998 square kilometers or 297,684 square miles

. About 39.2 percent (77,107,125) of the population is urban

. The median age in Pakistan is 22.7 years.

The Gilani Research Foundation is headed by Dr. Ijaz Shafi Gilani, a pioneer in the field of opinion polling in Pakistan. He is also the Chairman of Gallup Pakistan.