Six out of ten Pakistanis want to live in democratic country India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

After witnessing several decades of dictatorship, six out of ten Pakistanis feel that it is 'very important' to live in a democratic country. According to a study titled 'World Public Opinion on Political Tolerance', nearly 62 per cent of Pakistanis feel it's 'very important' to live in a democratic country, while 26 per cent said that it is 'somewhat important.' Only seven per cent feel that democracy is 'not very important', The Dawn reports. When asked how important did they think it was for people to be free to express unpopular political views, without fear of being harassed or punished, about 56 per cent said 'very important'. Thirty-five per cent considered unpopular political views as 'somewhat important'. Thirty-three per cent of Pakistanis gave their opinion that there was an opportunity of free expression while 35 per cent spoke of 'somewhat free'. The study, conducted by 'WorldPublicOpinion.Org' in 24 countries, was released on Tuesday to mark the International Democracy Day. The countries are China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Germany, Great Britain, France, Israel, Poland, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Kenya, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, Korea and the Palestinian territories. The poll found strong support for democracy in general. Asked 'how important is it for you to live in a country that is governed democratically?', majorities in all 24 nations said it was very or somewhat important. In no country did those calling it unimportant exceeded about one in four.