Pervez Musharraf

NEW DELHI: Former military dictator of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf said that dictators and military rule have always "set right" his country while civilian governments have always "brought it to ruins," reported Pakistani media, citing BBC Urdu.

Pakistan has seen military rule > via coup as many as three times since it became an independent nation.

"Military rule has always brought the country back on track, whereas civilian governments have always derailed it," Musharraf said in an interview Wednesday with BBC Urdu, reported Pakistani newspaper Dawn.

The three times the Pakistani army has deposed a civilian government it has always installed a dictator.

So, here's Musharraf's view on that.

"Dictators set the country right, whereas civilian governments brought it to ruins...military rule always brought progress to Pakistan", said the retired Pakistani army general.

Musharraf also claimed that the people of Pakistan apparently don't care what form of government they have as long as they prosper.

"Whether it is a dictatorship , communism, socialism or kingdom people don't care until they are prosperous and the country is progressing," he said to BBC Urdu, according to Pakistan's The Express Tribune.

About the coup he engineered in 1999 > , Musharraf defended it, claiming it was what the people of Pakistan wanted.

"The coup was staged because it was the demand of the country's people", said Musharraf.

He added that people generally "come running to the army" when Pakistan is in trouble. Whenever martial law was declared in Pakistan, "it was the need of the hour", he claimed.

"The people come running to the army to be saved; people come to me asking to be saved," he said.

Not just Pakistan, any Asian country that has seen real progress has done so when it had dictatorial rule, Musharraf believes.

"All Asian countries have seen progress because of dictators...Check the records of both civilian and military rules and you will find that dictators always led the country towards prosperity," said the former Pakistan military dictator.

Prosperity of the people of a country should be the be-all and the end-all of any ruler, he believes.

"We cannot ruin the country in order to save the Constitution. We can disregard the Constitution to save the people," he said.

Pakistan's current army chief Qamar Bajwa doesn't appear to agree with Musharraf.

In February, Pakistan's Nation newspaper reported on a meeting held by Bajwa, during which he essentially said "the army has no business trying to run the government" > . He also reportedly spoke at length about how India has managed to make democracy work without ever involving the Army in governance.

