ISLAMABAD: Over half of the people in Pakistan are satisfied with the functioning of democracy compared to 2005 when only 32 per cent had trust in democracy, a report said on Thursday.

The ‘Views on state of democracy in South Asia: 2013 (Pakistan Report)’, which was based on a countrywide opinion polls commissioned by PILDAT and conducted by Gallup Pakistan, was launched on Thursday. Politicians, former military generals and political analysts attended the launching ceremony.

The report said freedom of expression, legislation, the understanding level of people and many other positive things had improved since the holding of the two consecutive elections. They said people’s trust in democracy would further increase if the process was not derailed.

“The highest level of satisfaction for democracy (63 per cent) came from those who were uneducated,” the report said. However, 70 per cent of respondents from minorities were dissatisfied with the system.

The report said corruption was the biggest obstacle in the service delivery with 86 per cent of the respondents saying police were the most corrupt followed by government employees who 84 per cent respondents viewed as corrupt.

JUDICIARY: About 18 per cent of the people cited the lengthy and expensive judicial process as the reason for avoiding the court system. As many as 17 per cent of the respondents said they avoided courts for being too lengthy and expensive while nine per cent said the community leaders and elders could settle their disputes. As many as 64 per cent people said they would not approach the courts in future while 31 per cent responded in support of approaching the judicial system.

MOST DIFFICULT TASKS: Over 78 per cent people said paying extra money made the service delivery effective when it came to admission in government schools, medical treatment and security from the police.

About 50 per cent believed that obtaining any help from the police was the toughest until paying them bribe while 65 per cent said involving influential people was also needed to get favour from state institutions.

Majority of the people said by following the established rules and procedures one could not obtain the desired services from government institutions. They said the middle class was facing hardship in getting any legal favour from the departments.

MAJOR ISSUES: Over 31 per cent of the respondents said unemployment was the biggest problem followed by inflation (23 per cent) and terrorism (18 per cent).

About 10 per cent of the respondents said they were unable to secure two square meals a day while 80 per cent said they were able to earn only two meals a day.

FOREIGN RELATIONS: The report said 93 per cent of people had heard about US equally with China and 91 per cent knew India’s name. Majority of the respondents dubbed China as the most friendly country followed by Bangladesh (77 per cent).

Only 33 per cent viewed India as a friendly country while 65 per cent said China should be the model for the development of Pakistan.

Ijaz Shafi Gilani, the chairman Gallup Pakistan, said democracy had more bright future in Pakistan than in India keeping in view the majority of single religion population unlike India where diverse ethnic and religious people had differences of opinion and ideology.

He said democracy in Pakistan would be trusted more if politicians played their role in improving the economy which would enhance the socio-economic condition of the people.

Defence analyst Hassan Askari Rizvi said democracy was a lengthy process and would show its fruits after holding of four to five consecutive elections. He said military interventions had not given a chance to political parties for strengthening democracy.