PESHAWAR, Sept 10: Noted scholar Prof Dr Mehdi Hasan has held political parties responsible for derailment of democracy in the country. He said politicians had no programme to address problems of people which, he added, had been the main cause of lack of democracy. Delivering a lecture on the ‘Background of Partition: role of political parties and democracy’ on Saturday, he said the military had always ruled the country — directly for 32 years and indirectly for the rest of the country’s 58-year history.

“Democracy means rule of law, disposition of justice and equal opportunities of development and progress for people. Of these characteristics, none exists in Pakistan.”

Dr Hasan said people, especially women, had to seek support of the president and prime minister to get an FIR registered. Citing cases of Mukhtaran Mai, Dr Shazia Khalid and Sonia Naz, he said these women had to undergo severe ordeals even after molestation.

He said the judicial system faced a credibility crisis as people were reluctant to repose confidence in it. The influential and the privileged violated the law with impunity by evading taxes and taking law into their hands.

He pointed out that generals had dismissed elected governments on four occasions, but courts had justified it under the doctrine of necessity. He said political parties had no programme to solve the issues of unemployment, lawlessness, health and education.

“No political party has the list of its membership, which has paved the way for corruption to creep into the very fabric of the system,” he said, adding that there was no system to collect membership fee from them and most of the parties were being run on donations.

He said lack of education was also a problem that had hindered democracy to flourish in the country. “Pakistan spends only 1.8 per cent of GDP on education against a UN recommendation of 4 per cent.”

He said Pakistan came into being as a result of political struggle and it was wrong to say that it was created in the name of religion.