Liberty vs. Security

As the saying goes, those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither. According to a recent survey on the issue of State and Democracy in South Asia, people in the region overwhelmingly support democracy, except in Pakistan. From today's editorial of Daily Times:

But one must understand what the people are saying in the survey. They are rebuking the politicians but not embracing military rule in principle. The fact is that in the Islamic world, authoritarian regimes permit political and social liberalisation without building any transitional institutions that would ensure its durability. Thus there is no way that a state can survive by adopting military rule in principle, but again and again, it is the threat posed by the Islamists to hurt the people and the world after coming to power that is allowing ‘liberal’ authoritarianism to have its day.