Al Qaeda has little support in Muslim world: Poll

A year after Osama bin Laden was killed by US Special Forces in Pakistan, his terrorist outfit al-Qaeda has little support in the Muslim world, a poll has said.

Majorities of people in Muslim nations like Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey and Lebanon expressed negative views about this terrorist network, according to a poll conducted in these countries between March 19 and April 13 by Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project.

In Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden was killed by US Navy Seals, 13 per cent of Muslims hold a favorable view of al- Qaeda, 55 per cent an unfavorable view, and roughly three-in-ten (31 per cent) offer no opinion.

Support for the organisation is in the single digits among Turkish and Lebanese Muslims. In Jordan, just 15 per cent express a positive opinion, essentially unchanged from last year, but down significantly from 34 per cent in 2010. Al- Qaeda receives its highest ratings in Egypt, where 21 per cent hold a favorable and 71 per cent an unfavorable opinion, the poll said yesterday.

Pew said, before his death, support for bin Laden had waned considerably among Muslims around the world. Perhaps the most striking decline occurred in Jordan, where in 2005 61 per cent had expressed confidence in bin Laden to do the right thing in world affairs.

The next year, this number plummeted to 24 per cent following al-Qaeda suicide attacks in the nation's capital, Amman.  By 2011, only 13 per cent expressed confidence in him.

Support for bin Laden also declined steeply over time among Muslims in Indonesia and Pakistan, as well as the Palestinian territories.  Palestinians, however, remained more supportive than other publics – in 2011, 34 per cent still expressed confidence in the al-Qaeda leader, the poll said.