Pakistan cannot afford another spell of army rule: Asma Jahangir

Karachi, Aug 13 (ANI): Famous lawyer, human rights activist and Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) chairman Asma Jahangir has said that even the worst democracy is better than an army regime and Pakistan cannot afford another spell of army rule politically and economically.

Delivering a lecture on 'Democracy and Human Rights in Pakistan: A Dead End?' at Aga Khan University on Wednesday, she said that army generals do not want Pakistan to be a real democratic country, so they gave Pakistan democracy in the shape of President Asif Ali Zardari and said go, enjoy democracy.

"We want constitutional courts in Pakistan, just have a look at the Supreme Court judges, most of them have been inducted from Punjab while all other provinces are neglected," she said.

Jahangir expressed her surprise over seat allocations in the parliament and said it was unfair how Balochistan was given 14 seats against the 14 percent population of the country while FATA having 2.5 of the country's total population was given 12 seats.

"Recently there has been some development work in Balochistan, but it has not been carried out according to the wishes of the people of Balochistan, and the only set of people benefiting from the work are the Pakistan Army," she said.

"The natural resources belong to the people of the province and hence should be used for their betterment," the Daily Times quoted Jahangir, as saying.

Talking about an independent judiciary, Jahangir said that this would be not achieved till the recruitment process of judges is not made transparent and till the retirement age of both the Supreme Court and high court judges are not made equal. (ANI)