ISLAMABAD, Dec 21: Senior lawyer and ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) Senator S.M. Zafar has admitted that there is no democracy in Pakistan at present and there is a need to end one- man rule in the country.

“It is true that there is no democracy in Pakistan,” said Mr Zafar while speaking at a briefing on “Resolving the Kashmir dispute: options for Pakistan”, organized by Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development on Wednesday.

Senator Zafar, author of the agreement between the government and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) on the controversial 17th constitutional amendment, said there was no democracy in Pakistan, but it was the country’s internal issue.

He said it was good that the Pakistani people thought collectively when they talked about India-Pakistan relations, keeping aside their internal matters.

Responding to the points raised by Mr Zafar, People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) MPA Farzana Raja said India was not taking the signals from Pakistan very seriously as these signals were being given by an individual and not by any institution like parliament.

Mr Zafar again said, “We should move away from one-man rule and there should be complete democracy in the country.”

He expressed the hope that Pakistan would soon become a true democratic country as things had started moving in the right direction which was evident from the fact that there was freedom of speech and the press in the country.