Chief Justice’s popularity has increased: Gallup poll
By: Usman Manzoor
ISLAMABAD: The latest DFID-sponsored Gallup survey shows that after a recent controversy, the popularity graph of the chief justice of Pakistan has gone up and people are more satisfied with his performance.
The nationally representative poll shows that a vast majority of Pakistanis were happy over the performance of the chief justice after the incident. On the overall performance, a vast majority of 84% was happy with his current performance, with 43% saying his performance is very good and 41% saying he is performing good; 6% held the view that his performance is satisfactory while only 4% said he is not 6% did not answer the question.
Despite divided views on this issue, a vast majority of population holds the view that if chief justice’s son is involved in the Arsalan-Malik Riaz controversy, then he should be punished accordingly.
People were also asked about their opinion on the performance of Chief Justice before this incident and it was found out to be almost the same; 81% were happy with his performance with 41% said his performance is very good and 40% saying he is performing good; 8% held the view that his performance is satisfactory. Negative response remained the same with 4% saying the chief justice is not performing well and 7% did not answer the question.
Was it a conspiracy to malign SC’s name? “More than half of the population (53%) is of the opinion that the chief justice’s son has been trapped in a controversy. However, 29% responded that there is no conspiracy and Dr. Arslan is the real culprit; 18% either did not know about it or chose not to answer.”
Who is behind this conspiracy? “Following up, when it was asked from general population if it is a conspiracy then who is behind it 48% of the population said the ruling Pakistan’s People Party (PPP) is behind it; 20% believed some agencies are involved; 7% said it is ordinary business conspiracy; 4% said there is American hand while 2% said army is behind the issue; 1% respondents said it is not a conspiracy while 15% did not answer or did not know about it.”
Is it a trap or not, in your opinion? “39% of general population held the view that chief justice’s son has been trapped in the controversy, 23% said he is actually corrupt while 15% said Arsalan Iftikhar is both corrupt and trapped while 23% did not answer the question.”
“Majority (76%) are of view that Chief Justice did the right thing by calling his son in the court, 11% said he did wrong while 13% did not respond to the question.”
Punishment to Chief Justice’s son: “The most popular opinion is chief justice’s son will get severe punishment due to this incident (38%). However, 27% hold the opinion that he will get mild punishment while 16% said he will get no punishment at all.”
People were also asked whether in their opinion Dr Arsalan would be punished if proved guilty. ‘45% said yes while 40% said there is little chance he will get any punishment, while 5% said there is no chance he will get punishment even if he is proved guilty.”
Views about Chief Justice after the incident: “When people were asked about their opinion on the overall performance of Chief Justice, a vast majority of 84% was happy with his current performance with 43% saying his performance is very good and 41% saying that he is performing good; 6% held the view that his performance is satisfactory. Only 4% said he is not performing well and 6% did not answer the question.”
Views about Chief Justice before the incident: “Following up, people were asked about their opinion on the performance of Chief Justice before this incident and it was found out to be almost the same. 81% of the population was happy with his current performance with 41% saying his performance is very good and 40% saying that he is performing good; 8% held the view that his performance is satisfactory. Negative response remained the same with 4% saying chief justice is not performing well and 7% did not answer the question.”
It is worth mentioning here that the popularity of CJ among masses is mainly because of the important cases he has been hearing during the past few years including, NICL Scam, Hajj Scam, RPP case Bank of Punjab case, Karachi violence, missing persons’ case including those of Balochistan, Steel Mills scandal, Wage-Board award case against the owners of media houses and in favour of working journalists, revival of corruption cases closed because of NRO, cases related to written off loan etc.
Since 2009 the SC has taken up cases involving over Rs400 billion and has recovered billions of rupees, which had almost gone to the pockets of the mighty. This figure is apart from NRO cases that involve another Rs175 billion of looted money. The Supreme Court also saved around Rs455 billion through its judgment in the Rental Power Plants (RPPs) case alone. During the hearing of the RPPs case, in pursuance of the orders passed by the apex court from time to time, a sum of Rs8,689,224,000 (rupees 8 billion 689 million 224 thousand) was recovered from the RPPs on account of advance payments and interest. It is because of CJ’s services for rule of law in the country that he has won two international awards.
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