Denial of political rights undermined country's stability
Address at the Harvard University in the United States
May 1, 2005

Mohtarma Bhutto says Pakistanis fated to be freed from tyranny

Addresses Harvard University

Islamabad May 01, 2005: Former Prime Minister and chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party has said that the denial of political rights undermined the stability of Pakistan, adding "the democratisation of Pakistan is important to the war against terrorism, to the
interpretation of Islam as a message of freedom and enlightenment as well as to the empowerment of the people of Pakistan".

She was addressing the students, faculty and a large number of guests at the Harvard University in the United States today.

There are dangers of militancy and terrorism in Indonesia but its army hasn't used that as an excuse to seize power. It recognises that the respect of nations, including its Motherland, comes from democratic norms and form constitutional governance, she said.

Urging Islamabad to learn from the Indonesian example she said it need to learn from the Philippines which too had military dictatorship and controlled democracy and found that neither worked.

"It is because Islamabad has been unable to follow in the example of Indonesia and Philippines that the country is in turmoil and with it the stability in the region is threatened".

Indonesia has made its transition to democracy. Its Generals have gone back to the barracks. They respect the civilian leadership and carry out orders despite facing a difficult situation in Timor and in Aceh province.

On destroying democratic political leaders by dictators she said that it has become the fashion both in the developed and developing world over the last decade, to destroy leaders' reputations by innuendo, allegation and rumour. This strategy now even has a name -- the politics of personal destruction.

But the scale to which this was orchestrated in Pakistan against my Party defied anything seen in the world. It was a relentless, devastating and overt assault on justice in an attempt to eliminate my leadership and to destroy me personally, she said.

Bureaucrats, businessmen and cabinet members were arrested and tortured. Judgements were dictated to Judges by the Law Ministry.

She said that Pakistan was no ordinary country. "It is a nation that detonated nuclear devices in 1998 after the overthrow of my government. It is a country that has fought three wars in the last fifty years of its history. It nearly went to war in 1999 over the frozen wastelands of an area called Kargil".

In this 21st Century, the people of Pakistan yearn for the restoration of their right to elect a government of their choice, she said.

The former Prime Minister said that mainstream political parties are stopped from freely functioning in the country.

The safe place for people to gather to voice opposition to the present dispensation is often only under the banner of the religious parties known as the MMA. This is dangerous. During the Afghan Jihad against the Soviets, the international community accepted, out of expediency and short term goals, the strengthening of the most extreme factions of the
Afghan Mujahideen, the Taliban and Al Qaeda. We must not make that mistake again, she said.

The rise of religious parties, their strengthening in Parliament and in the streets has an echo in the past, she said. Once again Islamabad is a front line state. This time it is a front line state in the war against terror as opposed to the last time when it was a front line state against the Soviet occupation.

We must fight a war on terrorism and simultaneously fight an equally critical war against tyranny wherever it exists. Short-term strategies often create far more intractable long-term problems.

In the past we failed to foster Afghan democracy when the Soviets withdrew from Kabul. We must not now fail to foster democracy in Pakistan.

A democratic Afghanistan in the eighties would have marginalized the Taliban and the Osama's of this world. A democracy in Pakistan can ensure that the world does not see the re-emergence of forces similar to the Taliban and Osama's of this world.

She said that the concept of people's power was etched in her heart. In time that etching has simply been fortified. I believe in peoples power.

About leadership she said that many believe that South Asian women leaders have inherited leadership through assassination of loved ones in the family. The other part is that each of us had to win our badges of honours by paying a political price.

She said that she believed that women leaders are more generous and forgiving. Male leaders tend to be more inflexible, and rigid. Women leaders are often Mothers. We see ourselves as Mothers of the Nation bringing an emotional commitment to protect and nurture our people.

About Islam she said it is a religion that sanctifies Abraham, Moses and  Jesus as Prophets. It was a loving and tolerant religion whose image has been tarnished by fanatics, she said.

She said that when her government assumed management of the economy in 1993, the country's growth rate rested at a dismal 2.0%. We tripled that to 6% in three short years.

We were able to reduce our fiscal deficit three points in three years, from 8% to 5% of GDP. We doubled tax revenue from 7.2% to 14.1%, a great accomplishment. And we attracted more than $3 billion of direct foreign investment in Pakistan .

Throughout history, the most powerful human urge has been the urge to be in charge of ones destiny. Freedom from slavery, freedom from exploitation, freedom from tyranny is the breath of life, it is the moving force of human resolve and purpose.
It is my hope, my desire, my effort that with the support of the great people who make up the Federation of Pakistan, that in my lifetime we shall see our country emerge as a free one, of a free people, free from the threat of military intervention, free from fascism, free to
determine the course of our future and to shape our destiny with our own hands.

And I know that the people of Pakistan will succeed, just as our forefathers succeeded in carving out Pakistan and our Fathers succeeded in ending earlier dictatorships.

Victory will come because victory always comes to those who fight for truth, justice and humanity. I leave you with the words and values of truth, justice and humanity. No matter where you go and what you do, no matter what you achieve, the only sense of satisfaction you will get is the satisfaction that comes from conscience. Conscience is satisfied when the struggle is not for oneself but for ones fellow human beings.