Unique Lives and Experiences Lecture Series
Ms Benazir Bhutto
Leader of the Opposition
Speech delivered at Boston - USA
May 01, 1998

Ladies and gentlemen, 

I recall the vivid images of Dantes Divine Comedy, and his characterization that "the hottest place in hell is reserved for those who remain neutral at times of moral crisis." 

This is not time for neutrality or inaction. The special demands of this extraordinary historical moment requires great action from men and women of great vision and courage. 

In that regard, I cannot but be uplifted and empowered by the recent accord signed in Belfast on Good Friday to end the conflagration in Northern Ireland. The agreement was reached after years of backbreaking negotiations jump started by President Clinton and former Senator George Mitchell. 

They saw a situation where men and women of moderation and good will needed a champion willing to take risks to bring the parties together. 

Clinton acted in the great tradition of President Harry Truman, who with George Marshall shaped and defined the modern era with a bold economic plan to contain communism in Europe called the Marsahll Plan, and a political and military alliance called NATO. 

But President Harry S. Truman was a leader, and not a follower. 

He chose to convince a reluctant public, and built a national consensus in America and the West that was maintained through forty years of Cold War, and ultimately led to the triumph of freedom and market based economics that has swept over this planet with the implosion of communism. 

There is a lesson to be learned in this. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. 

We hope that the path to reconciliation in Northern Ireland through honest mediation by the world's sole superpower can be repeated in other areas of the world where the problems look equally intractable, equally impossible, but where men and women of good, will look beyond fear and loathing to reconciliation and resolution. 

If Northern Ireland can be settled, why not a new initiative to save the frozen peace process in the Middle East. 

If Northern Ireland can be resolved, cannot the world turn its attention to the horrors in Kosovo before Kosovo becomes another Bosnian genocide. If Northern Ireland can be settled, why not a new and credible initiative to bring India, Pakistan, and the Kashmiris together to finally resolve the Kashmir issue which hangs like a sword of Damocles across not only South Asia, but the entire world. 

The valley of Kashmir has been occupied by India and denied the basic right of self-determination. Tens of thousands of men, women and children have lost their lives in the quest for freedom. 

Villages have been burnt.  Women and children targeted. 

Three wars over Kashmir have wrought devastation in its path. Today, 600,000 troops hold the people of Kashmir hostage. 

We who support freedom in the world ought not remain silent when freedom is threatened. 

That is why I say, it is time now, consistent with President Clinton's stated policy of preemptive crisis management, to facilitate an agreement between India and Pakistan so that the people of Kashmir and Jammu are finally allowed to determine their own political futures on the basis of the right to self determination. 

This is the moment of opportunity. 

This is also the moment, as we cross the millennium, for the world to finally become sensitive to and tolerant of different cultures, different religions, different peoples. 

The west needs to appreciate and understand the East, for we are all part of the same Judaic, Christian, Muslim Civilization. We are all people of the Book. 

I would ask leaders in the West, not to think of the people of the East as terrorists or fanatics. 

No doubt there are extremists in each society in each country. 

However, it is the misfortune of the Information Age that while we think we have more information for each other in fact we have less. The reason we have less knowledge is that the Information Age often broadcasts the extreme rather than the mainstream. 

The mainstream in the East is very much the mainstream in the West if not more so. The mainstream in the East is grounded in faith, in family, in our dreams for the future. 

Ladies and gentlemen, 

I have attempted, throughout my career, to combine the best of many cultures, the richness of disparate experiences, to build for my people the ability to compete and thrive in the challenging new technological era. Introducing the world of modern communication into Pakistan was one of the goals of my party. 

We heralded the information revolution by introducing fax machines, digital pagers, optic fiber, cellular telephones, satellite dishes, internet, the e-mail and even CNN into Pakistan. 

We implemented a policy which guaranteed to 95% of our urban population and 70% of our rural population adequate sewage facilities. 

We constructed over 30,000 new primary and secondary schools in three years 
and renovated an additional 9,800 ones. Of these new schools, approximately 70% were for girls. 

We recruited 53,000 new teachers, 70% of whom were women. 

We increased the health budget by 60% and the WHO gave me a gold metal in recognition of Pakistan's effort to eliminate polio and provide basic health facilities to our people. 

We recruited and trained an army of women, 50,000 strong, to tackle the problems of infant mortality and population control. In my two terms as Prime Minister of Pakistan, one of the nine most populated countries in the world, we brought down the population growth rate from 3.1% to 2.6%. 

We brought our energy revolution directly to the people of Pakistan ending 16 hours of daily power shut downs which had crippled the economy and stunted growth. 

We brought the fruits of the energy revolution to the villages which had lived in darkness for centuries, electrifying over 18,000 villages in three years. 

All this needed money. And we pumped in resources toward the social sector while cutting the countries deficit and reducing its national debt. 

We built 10,000 kilometers of roads and 100,000 homes per year for the needy and deserving. 
The social revolution we had launched came to a grinding halt the day I was dismissed. 

Today, education, health, population and the environment are starved for funds while Big Bank defaulters, led by the Prime Minister, seek to enact laws meant for personal benefit and neglect the people of the land. 

My friends, I am proud that the government I led brought about a miraculous transformation of a society. 

We opened up markets and we opened up minds. We attacked prejudice and discrimination. 

We carved out an entrepreneurial society where young men and women had the freedom to choose their careers, and to embark on business ventures to compete with each other and with the world. 

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