A new survey has shown that 62 percent of respondents support the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), while only 12 percent are in favour of the PML-Quaid (PML-Q).

The sample showed that while 36.7 percent supported the PPP, 25.3 percent favoured the PML-N, and only 12 percent backed the PML-Q.

While the findings are being kept under wraps, there are reports that the survey has come to the conclusion that if the February 18 elections are free and fair, the two major opposition parties would make major gains. Some have mentioned a figure of two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, but others have expressed doubt that the pickings by the PPP and PML-N will be that great.

Suspected: As many as 58 percent were of the view that agencies or parties aligned with President Pervez Musharraf were responsible for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, while only seven percent believed that Al Qaeda or the Taliban had killed the PPP leader.

Also, in a sharp rebuke to Musharraf, whose standing has slumped since he tried to fire the Supreme Court’s chief justice last March, 70 percent of voters think he should quit immediately. Despite Musharraf’s counter-terror alliance with Washington and calls for Pakistan to plot a course of “enlightened moderation”, Pakistanis remain distrustful of the president and his authorities, especially the shadowy intelligence agencies.