Democracy in Pakistan is ineffective: Pervez Musharraf

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Asserting that democracy is an ineffective system in his country, Former president and military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf has said failures have to be answered through military intervention.

Speaking at an event, Musharraf said that to counter failures, the army has to take action.

"Democracy is an ineffective system for Pakistan as there are no checks and balances in the system, and to counter such failures, the army has to act because people of Pakistan expected too much good from the military, "The Express Tribune quoted Musharraf, as saying .

He was of view that the 'inherent weakness' of Islamabad is that democracy in the country has not been modified according to the situation.

When asked about the future of democracy in Pakistan, Musharraf said, "So, therefore, we have to maybe tailor the political structure in accordance with the dictates of Pakistan, introduce checks and balances so that misgovernance does not take place and the army does not have to come into politics."

He said that since independence, the army has always played an important role in Pakistan.

"It has played a very prominent role in the governance of Pakistan, mainly because of misgovernance by all the so-called democratically-elected governments," he further said.

Speaking in reference to the recent Uri attack in Jammu and Kashmir, he said he would have counter-threatened India.

The former president also said that the United States has used Pakistan for its own interests.

Musharraf said he was still doubtful of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's continuous presence in Abbottabad town and the episode of 2011 raid.

He insisted that government and intelligence agencies were not sheltering Bin Laden at the compound.