Musharraf exploiting war on Terror
Global Institute for Leadership
October 19, 2004

Palm Desert, California

It is amazing to be in America two weeks before a Presidential election. It is welcome to be in a democracy where there are actually real elections taking place, where people can freely vote.  I wish someday we will be able to say the same thing about my homeland, Pakistan.  That is the goal on which I focus all my energies.  That is the drive that keeps me going every day.  That is the commitment that brings me to California today.

Throughout the world, these are times of uncertainty, tension, conflict and great danger. The era of peace for which we prayed, and which after the collapse of communism was within our grasp, has now tragically become a time of war.

Stability has been replaced by chaos.

The world has changed dramatically since the attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

America is the oldest and greatest democracy of the world.

As a teenager, I learnt about modernity, diversity, and democracy here in your country.

I returned to Pakistan with the dream to help my country prosper on these democratic principles, and on the empowering and revolutionary concept of equal rights for women in society.

But tragically, I found that the fanatics and the dictators dread modernity, diversity and democracy. They fear the empowerment of the People of Pakistan  -- they fear literacy, equality and above all they desperately fear the spread of information in society. They use religion to justify their politics, to justify dictatorship and to manipulate a clash of civilizations under which they thrive.

I do not believe that such a clash of civilizations is inevitable.

Contrary to what some people believe, Islam is a monotheistic religion very much part of the Judeo Christian heritage. Abraham, Moses and Jesus are the prophets of Islam as much as they are revered in Judaism and Christianity.

It is ignorance and fanaticism that seeks to create a clash of civilization amongst East and West, amongst Islam and the rest of the world. Terrorists who use commercial airliners as bombs aim at much more than the death of thousands  -- they aim to provoke a global, deadly confrontation between continents, nations, and religions.

I know the terrorists of Al Qaeda. I battled with many of them. Across Pakistan, exploiting our religion, they preached a message that teaches hate and hopelessness.

As a woman, I was a threat, a clear and present danger to their designs.

As a democrat, I was their opposite.  But above all, as someone who offered hope to our people  -- education, jobs, communication and modernity  -- I was a dangerous obstacle to the forces of hate.

Under my government Pakistan integrated into the global economy that the fanatics so fear. We became one of the ten emerging capital markets of the world, attracting billions of dollars in foreign investment, particularly in power generation.

We eradicated polio in our country. We dramatically reduced infant mortality.

The WHO awarded me a Gold Medal for our assault on polio.

Despite the constraints of a political system rigged against democrats, and a social system biased against women, as Prime Minister of Pakistan I used my office to reverse centuries of discrimination against women.

We increased literacy by one-third, most dramatically amongst young girls.

We built over 48,000 primary and secondary schools during my two terms in office. It pains me that this education program targeting girls was dismantled by my successors who cut the education budget.

We brought down the population growth rate by establishing women's health clinics across our Nation.

We outlawed domestic violence and established special women's police forces to protect and defend the women of Pakistan.

We appointed women judges to our nation's benches for the first time in our history. That affirmative action program for women in the judiciary has been undermined. A female judge was denied promotion to Pakistan's High Court in a major reversal for female leadership in the judiciary. She was retired when she should, under the law, have gone on to become the first female judge on the Bench of Pakistan's Supreme Court.

We instituted a new program of hiring women police officers to investigate crimes of domestic violence against the women of Pakistan. That special police force has been dismantled.

My government condemned honor killing, the murder of women who chose to marry without their guardian's permission. And now my party has moved a bill in Parliament making these honor killings illegal. Sadly but not unsurprisingly, Pakistan's military junta has tried to jettison the bill with a counter proposal that does not effectively address the issue.

The Government I led lifted the ban on women taking part in sports—nationally and internationally. This year a Pakistani woman took part in the Olympics in Greece bringing pride to all the people of Pakistan and to women everywhere. We persuaded the armed forces and security services to hire women in their institutions.

A special Women's Development Bank was created to guarantee small business loans to women entrepreneurs, because I firmly believed that economic justice would build political justice.  It was a bank run by women for women- although men were allowed to keep their money in it.

There is a moral crisis in Pakistan today.

Social and economic inequality is a ticking bomb.

The stakes could not be higher. To Islam at the crossroads, a modern Pakistan was one fork in the road, fanaticism and ignorance the other.

 In Islam dictatorship is never condoned, nor is cruelty.  Beating, torturing and humiliating women is un-Islamic.  Denying education to girls violates the very first word of the Holy Book:  "Read."  According to our religion, those who commit cruel acts are condemned to destruction.

 Afghanistan is an example of how abandoning the principles of human rights and democracy can have the most tragic consequences.

 The overall policy of standing against Soviet aggression in Afghanistan was right.  Yet the early decisions to arm, train, supply and legitimize the most extreme fanatics gave birth to the 21st century terrorism now swirling around us.

Ironically and tragically, these militant elements gave birth to Al Qaeda, and the US Stinger missiles are now pointed at US commercial jetliners.

If the elections that were held in Afghanistan last week were held in Afghanistan in 1990, there would have been no Taliban, no Al Qaeda and no 911.

Just as democracies do not make war against other democracies, democracies also do not sponsor international terrorism.

The goal of the international community's foreign policy agenda must always be to simultaneously promote stability and to strengthen democratic values.

Not selectively but universally.

General Musharraf is exploiting the war on terror to solidify his junta.  The world must remember that until he found it expedient to align with the US against terrorism, his regime was supporting the Taliban. Even as he bans militant groups to demonstrate good faith to the rest of the world, those same groups spring up under another name. It seems that the writ of the state has failed.

The United States and the rest of the world must remember that Pakistan has an extra-constitutional military government with no democratic legitimacy.  So-called elections that took place in Pakistan in October 2002 were exercises in fraud; The EU described them as  "a deeply flawed exercise".

There were banners and balloons.  But like a Potemkin village, it was all an illusion.  There was never any intention on allowing the will of the people to be expressed.

This is tragic, for two distinct reasons.  First, a democratic Pakistan is the best guarantee of the triumph of moderation and modernity among one billion Muslims at the crossroads of our history.  And second, the alternative of a long-term nuclear-armed Pakistani dictatorship has consequences that could make September 11th look like a mere prelude to an even more horrific future for the civilized world.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Mine is not the simple life I dreamed of growing up in Pakistan and going to school at Harvard and Oxford.

I am asked how as a Muslim woman in a traditional society, I became Prime Minister of Pakistan.

In fact, circumstances propelled me on to the road of leadership.

The gauntlet of leadership was thrown down before me and I had no choice but to pick it up. And once I picked it up, I focused my life and energy like a laser-beam on bringing democracy and human rights to my people.

 I found that leadership is demanding.  Life often demands difficult decisions.  I had to choose between family and duty, and I had no real choice.  The stakes were too high to allow any obstacles to success. Often personal happiness was sacrificed in pursuit of national and political goals.  Sad, but necessary.

Leadership is a commitment to an idea, to principles, to fundamental human values.

My commitment to democracy, to fundamental human rights, to modernity, helped me walk the high mountains of success as well as the low valleys of imprisonment and exile.

Leadership demands a price from the individual and it also demands a price from the family.

I was in America during the Watergate crisis and the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon. Above all, in America during the Watergate crises I saw the awesome power of the people to change policies, change leaders, and change history.

I marveled at how a people could bring down a government. I lived in a dictatorship. Those criticizing the President ended up in prison or ended up facing assassination attempts.

At Oxford, I became the first female foreigner to be elected as President of the Oxford Union.

The Oxford Union reflects the British Parliament.

It was there that I learned to debate, slowly gaining confidence before an audience.   It was there that I learned to further focus my energy into attaining specific and definable goals.  It was there that I learned that I could beat the odds.  It was there that I learned not to accept "no" for an answer, and in the words of Bobby Kennedy, to ask, why not?

I returned to Pakistan in 1977 hoping to join the Foreign Service. I dreamt of becoming the Ambassador to Washington.

Within a week, my life changed dramatically. A military coup took place. My Mother awakened me in the early hours. Army tanks had surrounded the Prime Minister's House.

 My Father was taken away by the military to an unknown destination.

He was released and returned to our family home in Karachi. But then the army raided the house again and took him away. He was released again and then rearrested. He was finally hanged amidst international outrage.

A few hours before his murder, my Mother and I went to the death cell to see him and bid him farewell. It was then in that final meeting that I decided that come what may, I would fight for democracy and fundamental rights in Pakistan.

During the long night of military dictatorship, which lasted eleven years, my Mother and I were imprisoned time and again. My Mother was baton charged and denied proper treatment. Today she suffers from a form of Alzheimer's her doctors claim was brought on by that head wound.

I spent nearly six years behind bars, often in solitary confinement. During the summers it was unbearably hot and during the winters it was brutally cold. The conditions in the cell were primitive. Mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches, dust storms and dryness were constant companions as was loneliness and a lack of communication with the outside world.

By the time I was allowed into exile through international pressure, I was anorexic. My hearing and eyesight were affected forever. My face muscles hurt when I talked. They had atrophied through the years of silence.

 Through this dark night of terror, young men were lashed for shouting to restore democracy. Others were imprisoned, tortured or hanged. However, the flame of freedom was never extinguished. It lived on fed by the sacrifices of so many.

My family background and long years of imprisonment made me the rallying point for the democratic movement. I returned to Pakistan in 1986 welcomed by millions of Pakistanis who lined the route from the airport and demanded an end to dictatorship.

And when I got married and expected my first child in 1988, the military dictator called for elections. He thought a pregnant woman could not campaign.   He was wrong.  I could, and I did, and, with the support of the brave people of Pakistan, I was elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.

My election broke the myth that a woman could not be elected Prime Minister in a Muslim country. It was a severe set back for the forces of fanaticism that wished to build a theocratic society not only in Pakistan, but also across the Muslim world.

It stirred a debate about gender, religion and politics. The lead scholar in Saudi Arabia issued a Fatwa, a religious edict, against my election. Many claimed that I had usurped a man's place in Islam and must be removed. But other religious scholars supported me.

I especially remember the religious scholars in Egypt, Syria and Yemen. The religious scholar in Yemen said that Islam permitted a woman to govern a Muslim country. He said the Holy book of the Muslims referred to the rule of Queen Sheba in laudatory terms noting that her reign brought prosperity to her people.

But the fanatics in Pakistan were deeply upset at my election. They dreamt of spreading the ideological frontiers of Islam through Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia to the borders of Europe.

They turned to Osma Bin Laden for help. They called him back from Saudi Arabia and asked him for ten million dollars to bring down the Government I led.

Until today the fanatics who believe in a war between the West and Islam, fear my popularity and the strength of my Party. They believe that a democratic Pakistan, at peace with its neighbors and with itself internally, is a threat to their war against the West.

They destabilized the government I led in 1996.

It was during the eclipse of my government that the Taliban seized all of Afghanistan. It was after my overthrow that Al Qaeda was established in Afghanistan and set up camps to train, recruit and arm young men from across the Muslim world. Two years after my overthrow, in 1998, Osama Bin Laden declared war on the west from the soil of Afghanistan. Three years later, the Trade Centers were attacked.

And although Pakistan's military dictator joined the war against terror following the ultimatum by President Bush to stand up and be counted as friend or foe, supporters of extremists groups still hold influential positions in his regime, terrorists operate in our tribal territories, and in parts of our country bordering Afghanistan.

The Taliban have regrouped and are mounting fresh attacks on the Karzai government. Despite several operations in our tribal areas, the terrorists largely escaped. The innocent civilian population paid a heavy price. Their homes were bombed and their children killed when the objective should have been good intelligence and targeted action.

My Party and I continue to be persecuted. My husband was arrested the night my government was overthrown that night on November 4, 1996, eight years back. He is a hostage to my political struggle. He has served his years in prison, often in solitary confinement, although he has not been convicted of a crime and the courts have ordered him released.  They have taken away the best years of his life. Each time he is acquitted of a baseless charge, he is re-indicted under even more absurd accusations. He has been tortured too. He nearly lost his life under physical torture in 1999.  He suffers from a crippling spinal disease that remains untreated in Musharraf's dungeons. I have not seen him for five years. Of our seventeen years marriage, he has spent eleven behind bars without being convicted of any crime.

I am told that he will be freed if I announce my retirement from politics. I know that my duty to my people comes first, for the sake of my children and all the children of Pakistan. My duty to Pakistan's democratic struggle is one baptized in blood. During this struggle, my father and both of my brothers were killed.  Their legacy focuses my drive.  Their spirit empowers me.  I have come too far to turn back now.

I have three children. My youngest was three when the government was overthrown. I empathize with single Mothers. It's tough holding a job and taking care of small children without the presence of a Father. I chose their schools, took them to the hospital when they fell down and needed treatment, sat with them through their fevers, helped them with homework.

And through the years, as the older ones became teenagers, I learnt about Harry Potter even as I tried to teach them about Alexander the Great and the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation in whose shadown my family lived for centuries.

My own experiences at Harvard and Oxford taught me that if women are to be defined by their own abilities, they need an education that empowers them.  I urge women all over the world not to accept the status quo, not to accept "no" for an answer.  It is critical that women—whether in California or Kabul or Kirkuk (Keer-cook)—refuse to accept traditional roles and traditional constraints.

Acquiescing to a tradition of subjugation of mothers and daughters—can no longer be accepted.

We fight against terrorism, and we fight against the bigotry and intolerance that will confine and constrain and victimize in the generations ahead.

Victimization of civil society and the concept of long-term peace are mutually exclusive.

The denial of human rights is a bomb that ultimately explodes.

These are difficult times.  Freedom is under assault.  Democracy is under assault.  Criminal terrorists hijack my religion just as they hijack America's planes.

The solutions will not be quick or simple.  But if we maintain our commitment to the principles that define us -- the principles of racial, gender and religious equality, the principles of political pluralism and tolerance, and the principle of peaceful change through democracy—we shall in the end prevail.

If we focus our energy, refuse to be distracted from what is important, if we act decisively and bravely and refuse to accept arbitrary constraints, then in the end our single-mindedness can wear down even the strongest enemy, even the highest barrier.

Let us remember that the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) married a businesswoman. She was his only wife until she died.  Islam introduced divorce, child custody and alimony for the first time in civilization. Islam came as a message of emancipation that put an end to the degradation of women and the burial of the girl child.

I say that to the fanatics and the fundamentalists:  This is my religion.   Nothing you do or say can change that reality.

 It is this tradition of Islam that allowed me my battle for political and human rights. It strengthens me today in this hour of crisis for my family, my nation and myself.

 Today in Pakistan, the veil of repression has descended across our people.

We have become accustomed to attempts to use the politics of personal destruction to turn back the course of democracy, human rights and women's rights in our homeland.  It didn't work then and it will not work now.

 The dictator's attacks on me are really attacks on the policies I espouse, and the issues I advance.  And thus in Pakistan the causes of women's rights, human rights, press freedom and democracy fall backwards into the dark chasms of a past era.

The new century must, for once and for all,  be an era where honor and dignity are protected in peace, and in war, where women have economic freedom and independence, where women are not defined by their fathers or husbands, but by their own achievements, where they are equal partners in peace and development.

Even as we catalogue, organize and hopefully attain our goals, step by step by step, all of those around the world who are committed to the common causes of human rights, women's rights and peace, must be vigilant for "freedom has be re-made and re-earned in every generation."

In the time it took for me to speak to you this morning, over one thousand children starved to death on this planet.

As long as these basic violations of human rights are allowed to continue, none of us are free.

Not in Palm Desert, not in Karachi, not in Baghdad.

The question before us is whether we are willing to fight for what we believe, whether we are willing to risk our personal comfort to confront bigotry and intolerance and inequality wherever we find it.

There will always be pressures to do what is convenient, the path of least resistance, what is safe and conservative.

But leadership is not rooted in safety; it rather is a product of boldness.

Modern leaders often take public opinion polls to decide on courses of policy.

The forces of dictatorship and extremism murdered my father, Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, two decades ago.  I recall vividly those dark and tragic days, with my father languishing in a dark prison, living in the most inhumane conditions, with the world helpless to stop his murder.

But he remained courageous to the end; even in the hours before his death he was the consummate LEADER.

In 1979, from the horror of his death cell, my father wrote:

"Every generation has a central concern, whether to end war, erase racial injustice, or improve the conditions of working people". And he said that "The possibilities are too great, the stakes too high, to bequeath to the coming generation only the prophetic lament of Tennyson—"Ah, what shall I be at fifty. If I find the world so bitter at twenty."

So even at this time of war, even more me at this time of tyranny in my nation, let us not be bitter.  Let us instead do what we can to build a better world.

It is that purpose in life, that gives me the strength to continue to face the political obstacles in life.

I know that the wheel of fortune turns, just as night changes to day. That the days of dictatorship will surely end. They will end because the fight for freedom is the fight for justice. Ultimately, justice always triumphs.

Thank you ladies and Gentleman.