SWABI, April 14: Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party president Mahmood Khan Achakzai has stressed the role of parliament in running affairs of the country.

Wrapping up his four-day visit to the district on Thursday, he said the army should quit politics because its job was to defend the country. Speaking at public meetings in different areas, he said flourishing of a true democratic order was possible only when the army worked according to the constitution.

“When the army dominates affairs of the country it creates various problems. If the army continues to rule the country, then the problems will aggravate with time, instead of being resolved,” he said.

He said the country’s constitution had been violated and amended but those responsible for it were never punished. Under these conditions, he said, the democratic order in the country could not be strengthened.

Mr Achakzai said constitutional norms should be upheld under all circumstances and those involved in its violation should be taken to task according to the law.

“Parliament’s supremacy should be ensured if we want progress and prosperity,” he observed. He opposed the 1991 water accord for distributing waters of the Indus River among the provinces in the form of the Water Appointment Accord. He accused Punjab of taking more water than its share and depriving the three other federating units of their share.

He said the affected parties could approach the International Court of Justice against the water accord.

The PMAP chief also criticised what he called rigging in the recent Senate election and said political parties should take notice of the malpractice and lawmakers who had not voted for their parties’ candidates should be barred from politics for 30 years. He said the practice of ‘horse-trading’ and corruption should be discouraged.

He claimed that district governments were dominated by those who had been elected through corrupt practices. “The installed district nazims are working for their own interests,” he alleged.

He demanded that the NWFP should be named as Pukhtunkhwa or Afghania, saying it was a longstanding demand of the people of the province to give a true identification to the region.