HYDERABAD, March 22: Political parties should take a firm stand that armed forces and secret agencies will never be allowed to interfere in political process.

This was stated by Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai at a “meet the press” programme organized by the Hyderabad Press Club on Tuesday.

He said everything must be subservient to parliament, including the armed forces and secret agencies, adding that it would make the country strong and impregnable.

He maintained that the overwhelming majority of people was of the considered opinion that defence forces should have no role in politics and that justice for all could only be guaranteed in a democratic system.

Mr Achakzai sarcastically said some sycophants had proclaimed that defence forces were a pillar in the power game which was incorrect. He said the US, France, China and the UK had powerful forces but they had no role in politics.

He regretted that affairs of Pakistan were being run under an unending martial law, parliament had lost its significance, justice had become a misnomer and yet the rulers were proclaiming that a true democracy had been restored in the country.

The PMAP chief said his party would continue to protest injustices against the smaller provinces because Pakistan had been created on the basis of equal rights for the nations.

He accused the civil and military bureaucracy of Punjab of destroying the country. He said this bureaucracy was not prepared to accept identity of other nations, nor did it believe in democracy. He said it was also loath to give up its control over resources of the smaller nations.

He said Pakistan needed a ‘natural federation’ according to the spirit of the 1940 Resolution in which the provinces themselves were the owners of their resources.

Mr Achakzai observed that people had no purchasing power even to arrange two square meals for their families. He said poverty, lawlessness, and unemployment had increased in the country.

He praised judges who had refused to take the oath under the PCO and said politicians should also have the same courage.

According to him, the only way to extricate the country from the crisis was to promulgate a new constitution which guaranteed equal rights to the nations and provincial autonomy.