Asma Jehangir wants Pak military to be brought under civilian oversight

Islamabad, June 8(ANI): Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Asma Jehangir has backed the public representatives' demand that the country's military be subjected to accountability. Addressing a seminar organised by the Awami Shehri Mahaz at the National Press Club, Asma said that accountability was in the interest of the people and the country. She said that for long, progressive elements had been described as traitors because they demanded that the military be answerable to its people, but recent events have proved that it was no longer acceptable that the military be treated as a 'sacred cow'. "I was traitor by birth, but Bacha Khan, Faiz Ahmad Faiz and others were also traitors," The News quoted the SCBA President, as sarcastically saying. Asma also said that parliament must take the lead in the effort to bring the military under civilian oversight. In the long run, Pakistanis cannot afford to keep subsidizing a bloated and repressive security apparatus, and a movement to create a genuine welfare state must be started, she added. (ANI)