PESHAWAR, April 26: Speakers at a seminar have held successive civil-cum-military regimes responsible for failure of democracy and lake of respect for law and human rights in the country.

The seminar on “Liberal Democracy for Pakistan” was organised by the Liberal Forum, Pakistan, at the press club here on Wednesday to discuss the failure of political parties, civil society, human rights organisations and successive governments in promoting and protecting democratic norms in the country.

Awami National Party vice-president Mohammad Adil, District Bar Association president Fida Gul, People’s Party Parliamentarians MPA Nasreen Khattak, Qayyum Khan Foundation chairman Moazam Butt and Liberal Forum president Asif Khan spoke at the seminar.

They said democracy without liberalism was a farce which had no future in developing countries. They urged political parties to learn from their mistakes and promote a culture of tolerance in their ranks.

The speakers said the armed forces wrongly worked as the fountainhead of the political power soon after abrogation of the constitution and imposition of martial law in the country. After that, they said, feudal-turned politicians joined hands with army generals for gaining power. Now the armed forces were working as change-makers, they added.

They accused Gen Ziaul Haq of turning Pakistan into a fundamentalist society which could not pull along with a fair political culture based on democratic norms.

After the USSR occupied Afghanistan in 1979, they claimed, the establishment brought hardened criminals from across the Muslim world to Afghanistan to launch a Jihad against the Red army but after the 9/11, these Jihadis were dubbed terrorists.

They alleged that secret agencies which they said were running political cells had tarnished the image of the country.

They said respect for human rights and civil liberties was the integral part of a liberal democracy. They said manipulating elections and bringing non-political people into power could not be called a fair democratic exercise.

They urged political parties to promote political values in their own bodies and discourage political expediency which had disgraced politicians in public eyes.