ISLAMABAD: Politicians, mostly from Pakistan Tehrik Insaf have rejected British Council Pakistan report that claims youth in Pakistan is pessimistic about change
Politicians reject British Council survey “Next Generation Goes to The Ballot Box”” that claims only one in five young adults expect their economic situation to improve over the next year. Report is also rejected by senior journalists and political anchors who are of the view that involvement of youth in politics is more than it was in previous elections and participation in public meetings of PTI and JI confirms that 80% of participants in public meetings an processions are youth. “This report is contrary to facts and you can see youth leading public meetings of Imran Khan and Jamaat-i-Islami and social media that mostly represents by youth is full of hot political debates debates. I hope youth is taking lead in 2013 elections, said senior journalist Agha iqrar Haroon having 25 year experience in journalism.
The report called, The Next Generation Goes to the Ballot Box, is a sequel of sorts to the British Council’s 2009 survey and report.
An overwhelming 96 percent of those surveyed said the country was heading in the wrong direction and almost a third said they would prefer military rule to democracy.
Just 29 percent chose democracy as the best system for Pakistan, with 40 percent favouring sharia, saying it was the best for giving rights and freedom and promoting tolerance.
There was some support for a return to military rule, the most recent bout of which ended in 2008 when the PPP took power after nine years under General Pervez Musharraf, and the survey found high levels of support for the armed forces.
A study commissioned for the report estimated there are more than 25 million registered voters aged 18 to 29 in Pakistan, or slightly more than 30 percent of the electorate.
Pakistan’s elected government completed its full five-year term last month, the first in the country’s turbulent history to do so.
While that may have bolstered the young democracy, a growing number of Pakistanis are wondering if their leaders will ever tackle poverty, crippling power cuts, corruption and a Taliban insurgency.
“Pessimism is fast becoming a defining trait of Pakistan’s next generation,” said the British Council, which defined young people as between 18 and 29 years old.
