RAWALPINDI, Sept 3: Any deal by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Benazir Bhutto with Gen Pervez Musharraf will not be in the favour of the people rather it will only serve her personal interest, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said on Monday.

Talking to the members of the District Bar Association (DBA) Rawalpindi, Mr Khan said it was high time the politicians mend their ways and not opt for re-election of Gen Musharraf, otherwise they would be damaging the cause of democracy.

With superior judiciary independent, public opinion against the military rule, and efforts of the lawyers for the restoration of constitution, the politicians are duty bound to go for real democracy, he stressed.

Mr Khan said Ms Bhutto wanted to strike a deal with Gen Musharraf just to have cases against her withdrawn, which caused more than Rs100 billion losses to the national exchequer.

“How Musharraf can discharge her as she had wasted public money,” he questioned. The PTI chief said she wanted amnesty for politicians ruling between 1988 and 1999 on what grounds and why should they be forgiven for their misdeeds.

Describing the second phase of the lawyers movement, i.e. restoration of constitution, Mr Khan termed it more important as the people were fed up of the present situation.

He said the main struggle should be against the elitist culture in the country. The elitists always wanted to have a controlled democracy and judiciary, and they involved intelligence agencies that had become a bane of the country, he added.

The agencies always used corrupt politicians to secure their interest by having them voted to power through engineered elections, Mr Khan said.

“The greatest threat to the country is not extremism but in the way war on terrorism is being executed by the present regime.”

He said Pakistan Army had become a mercenary force fulfilling the US agenda, adding that the government was receiving Rs100 million every month for placing the army at US service.

The PTI chairman said the free and independent judiciary was a force keeping an eye on the balance of power among the institutions.

The coming days are very important for this country, as these will decide whether we go for real democracy or the elitist culture. .

Talking about the miserable plight of educational infrastructure in Pakistan, Mr Khan said India spent five per cent of its GDP on education, while in Pakistan the figure was only 1.8 per cent. The annual budget of Singapore University is equal to the total budget of Pakistan for education, he added.

According to him, the primary education system has nearly collapsed in Pakistan.

In the end, the PTI leader termed free and fair elections under an independent election commission the only panacea for all problems of the country.