'Report Warns of Pakistan's Younger Generation Losing Faith in Democracy', The Guardian, 20 November 2009
EXCERPT: "Pakistan faces a 'demographic disaster' if its leaders fail to invest in a youth population that is disturbingly cynical about democracy, has greatest faith in the military and is resentful of western interference, according to a study published tomorrow. . . Of the 1,200 young people surveyed for the report's opinion poll, 60% said they had faith in the military as an institution while only one in 10 voted for President Asif Ali Zardari's beleaguered government. . . Steven, a research fellow at New York University, warned that Pakistan risked creating a giant underclass more prone to extremism and violence. . . 'The US spent $12.3bn in Pakistan between 2002 and 2008 of which 70% went to the military. But it has not generated any security,' he said. . . 'The war on terror. . . has gone a long way to isolate Pakistani youth from the rest of the world,' said one of those surveyed. 'Stop treating us like an uncivilized bunch of hooligans who don't know anything,' wrote another."
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