WASHINGTON, Nov 2: The US administration should take immediate steps to strengthen democratic institutions in Pakistan before they are lost for ever, says Asma Jehangir.

“Democracy cannot be strengthened by supporting military rulers. Only political parties can do this job,” chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said while addressing a seminar in Washington on Tuesday.

Larry Robinson, a senior US diplomat, who recently returned to Washington after a long stint in Islamabad, agreed with her but supported the reforms undertaken by the Pakistani government to restore democracy. “It is a long process and can only be done gradually,” he said.

Ms Jehangir said that while the US was spending billions of dollars in building up political institutions in Iraq, “it is quietly allowing the same institutions to wither away in a country where they already exist.”

She said because of its concerns about the war against terrorism, Washington was allowing loftier objectives, like democracy and strengthening the civil society, to fade away.

“I do not deny that defeating groups like Al Qaeda is our first priority but it does not mean that we are ignoring other objectives,” said Mr Robinson, who served as political counsellor at the US embassy in Islamabad till early this year.

“But your policies are hurting US interests as well because you cannot defeat terrorism without strengthening democracy,” argued Ms Jehangir.

She also disagreed with a questioner who had suggested that there’s something inherently wrong with the Islamic culture which prevents democracy from taking roots.

“Extremism, and not Islam, is the problem,” said Ms Jehangir. “Unfortunately, extremist ideas are affecting every religion, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Islam.”

The seminar on human rights in Pakistan, at Washington’s Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, led to some lively discussions between the two speakers, often requiring the moderator, Dennis Kux, to play a mediatory role.

But both Ms Jehangir and Mr Robinson agreed that there was a need to undertake massive reforms in almost every field, including judiciary, police, education, political and democratic institutions, health and the local bodies.

“The public education in Pakistan is collapsing. There are schools that have no teachers and those that do, their teachers have no training. Unless something is done immediately, Pakistan will face a major educational crisis,” warned Mr Robinson.

Ms Jehangir said that funds the government received from the US and other sources were being spent only on elite educational institutions. “New elite groups are being created while the poor are being pushed out,” she said. “And US policies in Pakistan are contributing to this.”

Ms Jehangir said that the “Jihadi culture,” which led to the creation of extremist groups like Al Qaeda, was introduced in the 1980s and Pakistan, the US and Saudi Arabia worked together to establish this trend. “Now, you suddenly want to take it away but it cannot happen overnight,” she added.