A total of 71 percent of a nationally representative sample of Pakistanis support giving harsh or mild punishment to former President General Musharraf for his unconstitutional steps in 2007, while 15 percent favor no punishment, local NNI news agency reported.

In a recent survey carried out by Gallup Pakistan, a nationally representative sample of men and women from across the country were asked whether Musharraf should get a harsh, mild, or no punishment as recently Supreme Court has termed the enforcement of emergency in Nov. 2007 as illegal.

Majority (52 percent) said he should be punished harshly and 19 percent believe he should be given a mild punishment for this crime. Fifteen percent of the respondents do not support punishing Musharraf while 14 percent did not give any response, the Gallup Pakistan said in a statement.

The survey findings also show that while there are no significant differences in views on punishing Musharraf across gender and age, there are notable differences across political affiliations. Those intending to vote for the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have higher support for punishing Musharraf, above 80 percent, followed by the ruling party Pakistan People's Party (PPP) voters and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML- Q) voters (around 60 percent) and the support is the lowest amongst Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) voters at only 19 percent.

The survey was carried out among a sample of 2,926 men and women in rural and urban areas of all four provinces of the country, during the first half of Aug. 2009.

On July 31, Pakistani Supreme Court ruled that Musharraf's decision to impose emergency rule and dismiss dozens of senior judges in 2007 was unconstitutional.

Musharraf's rival and chief of PML-N Nawaz Sharif has been demanding of the government to put Musharraf on trial for suspending constitution and high treason.

(Xinhua News Agency August 28, 2009)