LAHORE, Oct 22: The way forward for Pakistan lies in trial of former president Gen Pervez Musharraf (retired) for staging two army coups, declared the international conference on civil-military relations that concluded here on Wednesday.

The two-day moot organised by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency admitted that there had been large-scale violations of the Constitution both by military as well as civil rulers and sought establishment of a Reconciliation and Truth Commission like in South Africa to reconcile the people suffered due to it.

Delegates from India, Turkey, Indonesia, Switzerland as well as local intellectuals and defence analysts attended the conference which urged the civil society to give quality leadership and called upon the military to empower and help establish civil institutions while showing restraints as the task takes time to emerge.

Warning that military intervention becomes part of problem instead of solving it, the moot recommended a sincere and enlarged dialogue with active army participation to settle national crises.

Also partially holding politicians responsible for the mayhem the country is in, it admitted that frequent army interventions have deprived them of their training institution and courses, that is, parliament and political process, respectively, besides causing a crisis of confidence among them as even the prime minister does not know for how long he will be there at the helm of affairs.

Calling for capacity building of civil institutions, defining Pakistan’s future and its regional role, the conference sought controlling role of intelligence agencies in local politics, returning the judiciary to pre-Nov 3, 2007 position, ensuring good governance through making the Election Commission independent and improving inter-provincial coordination.

It recommended empowering the defence minister, activating the defence committee of the cabinet and appointing a civil bureaucrat as defence secretary to oversee affairs of the military establishment.

The moot also demanded enhanced role of parliament in discussing the defence budget and like the Pentagon in US making the GHQ to hold daily question-answer sessions with the free media.

The panel which presented the recommendations in the valedictory session of the conference included Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi, Lt-Gen Talat Masood (retired), lawyer Dr Parvez Hassan, former governor Shahid Hamid, Pildat executive director Ahmad Bilal Mehboob and joint director Ms Aasiya Riaz.

In his concluding address, Lt-Gen Moinuddin Haider (retired) said the army top brass should be held responsible for the military takeovers, and not the lower cadre. He said good officers make good battalions and not the vice versa. He also said the army men should keep in mind sanctity of the constitution while taking orders from the high command.