KARACHI: The Government has advised foreign missions in Pakistan that they should not conduct “public polls or surveys of any kind” in this country as “such undertakings do not fall within the legitimate activities” of foreign missions. A Press note issued in Karachi yesterday said that the question of public polls and surveys conducted by foreign missions in Pakistan has been brought to the attention of the Government of Pakistan, and added that “the Government has no doubt that [the] public will refrain from participating in such polls and surveys.”

The Government’s Press note has come following publication of a report that the American Embassy in Karachi was conducting a survey to gather public reactions to highly sensitive questions regarding Pakistan’s foreign policy. — Special Representative

[Agencies add] some of the questions asked in the comprehensive questionnaire issued by the US Information Service were: “Do you have very good, good, indifferent, bad or very bad opinion about the United States, China, Russia, UAR and Indonesia? Which country is Pakistan’s best friend, which is our worst enemy?”

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2015

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