PESHAWAR, Dec 18: The Chairman, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Afrasiab Khattak, has blamed the army for frequent interruptions in the democratic process.

“The army has become instrumental in running the state affairs, which controls everything, including all the national resources,” said Mr Khattak, while speaking at a seminar “Civil-Military Dialogue: building bridges,” organised by the Liberal Forum Pakistan here on Wednesday.

The Musharraf’s martial law was the last such attempt which derailed democratic process, the seeds of which had been sown by the same army way back in 1954 with the imposition of first martial law in the country.

According to him, the army was afraid of continuation of the democratic process and the Constitution, because it described the respective roles of all the institutions.

He said the army hatched conspiracies against the democratic setup on one pretext or the other and it would do the same in future.

The army happens to be in full control of the process of shaping the state policies in line with their own likings, and monopolised the state, said Mr Khattak, adding that it had never allowed any democratic government to stand on its own feet since the promulgation of martial law by Ayub Khan.

There seemed no light at the end of the tunnel, unless and until the role of the army was clearly defined, he said.