PESHAWAR, Feb 15: Seeking a complete end to army’s role in politics, chief of Pukhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party, Mahmud Khan Achakzai said on Thursday that political training should be imparted to the army so that in future it may not scuttle the democratic process in the country.

Addressing the members of High Court Bar Association here at the Peshawar High Court, he said that unless the country was turned into a true federation, with all nations and federating units getting their due rights, it could not be saved from future crisis.

About the political role of army, Mr Achakzai recalled that former chief of army staff, Gen (retd) Aslam Baig had admitted that he had distributed Rs140 million for changing the results of 1990 elections, but despite that he was not punished for that misdeed.

He suggested that general elections should be held for electing a constituent assembly, which should be assigned the task of framing a new constitution. “The elections should be conducted by a government comprising those judges of the superior judiciary who had refused to take fresh oath under the PCO,” he added.

Mr Achakzai regretted that the forces which opposed abrogation and suspension of the constitution and establishment of military rule were always dubbed “anti-state”, whereas the forces which supported successive rulers were declared true patriotic and democrats.

The Pukhtoon leader said that if Gen Musharraf was fond of politics he should get rid of his army uniform and join politics.

When invited to comment how he would react if a confederation between Afghanistan and Pakistan was declared, he said this could only be announced with a friendly country, but here people at the helms considered Afghanistan their fifth province. The ISI, he claimed, interfered in Afghanistan and was responsible for massive devastation there.

He opposed the imposition of graduation as a minimum qualification for contesting polls, stating that the prevalent crisis was a result of lack of political maturity in the army and they should be given political training.

He cited the example of India where, he said, the number of people, religions, languages, etc., were larger than in Pakistan but still democracy had flourished there.