Washington, USA - For the last five years the demand for the separation of religion and governance has been growing in Pakistan, a US survey has claimed.
The Washington-based PEW Institute for Public Opinions found that in 47 surveyed countries people believe that religion and politics must not be mixed.
Support for the strict separation between religion and government is growing in Pakistan, while in Turkey support for such separation has declined significantly in the past five years, The Dawn reported.
In 2002, only 33 per cent of Pakistanis were of the opinion that religion and government should remain separate. Five years later, their opinion poll has grown to 48 per cent.
On the other hand, in Turkey 73 per cent supported secularism in 2002. This dropped to 55 per cent in 2007.
In all of the 47 countries surveyed, at least 70 per cent of the respondents believe that education is important for both boys and girls.
A majority of people said that men and women are equally qualified for political leadership.
In Pakistan, 82 per cent of those surveyed said that growing trading ties with other countries are good, while 52 per cent said they are very good.