Islamabad: Frequent terrorist attacks in Pakistan in the recent months have increased the sense of fear among the people as majority of population in the country feel insecure, a survey revealed on Friday.
Seventy per cent of respondents believed that anyone walking in their area at night could be robbed, while 70 per cent of them confessed they feel a visibly locked house in their neighborhood will be burgled, the survey has found.
Despite some measures taken recently to maintain law and order situation, the perceptions about personal security in Punjab and other provinces have remained unchanged or even deteriorated, a Gilani Research Foundation survey carried out by Gallup Pakistan claimed.
The sample survey, which included both male and female participants, found that 48 per cent people feel there is always a chance of robbery in a locked and unattended house in their neighbourhood, while 22 per cent of them believe the chance of such incident are "a lot".
Only 29 per cent denied the chance of robbery in the given circumstances and 1 per cent gave no response.
In a follow up question, majority (75 per cent) of respondents think there is "a lot" of or "some" chance that a person walking at night in their area will be attacked. While 24 per cent believe their area is very safe and there is no chance any one would be mugged while walking at night.
However, responding to a query on whether the rate of theft and insecurity increased, decreased, or remained the same during the last one year, 76 per cent participants said it has either decreased or remained unchanged, while the rest of them confessed that the sense of insecurity has increased in their area during the past one year.
The data reveals more people in Punjab feel that personal security has improved in recent months as compared to residents of other areas.
The survey was carried out among a sample of 2,624 men and women in rural and urban areas of all four provinces of the country, in March 2009.