Terrorism: The Threat to Asia
Political Parties Conference Bangkok
November 22- 24, 2002
Dear Delegates:
It is a special privilege for me represent the Pakistan Peoples Party on this, the second Asian Political Parties Conference. I thank the Thai Rak Party and its leader the Prime Minister, for giving us this opportunity to share views and shape the future of our continent.
I thank Speaker Jose De Venecia for his efforts to promote Asian unity and thought of action by bringing us to gather.
We meet in Thailand at a time of tension, turmoil and terrorism. Terrorism has struck repeatedly over the last month across different parts of Asia, from Indonesia to Kuwait.
The era of peace for which we prayed, became a time of war.
Tolerance was replaced by terrorism.
Democracy in Pakistan was replaced by dictatorship.
The reality of suicide bombings has struck my homeland — Christian churches, Muslim mosques urban hotels, diplomatic missions are all targets. Scores were murdered. The fanatics struck innocents in Bali. They struck against the French in Yemen. They killed Americans in Kuwait.
A military dictatorship in Pakistan failed to stop Al-Qaeda and its Taliban sympathizers from escaping during the bombing of Tora Bora.
Ladies and gentlemen:
The bombing of the World Trade Towers killed people of all races, ethnicities and religions.
It killed Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Jews who were working together building worldwide trade communication and cooperation.
The biggest challenge before the countries of Asia, indeed the countries of the world is to overcome the forces of terrorism that spread hate, religious intolerance, conflict and bloodshed.
At this time of continuing crisis, the Asian people need to understand those who use violence in the name of Islam.
They are not clerics. They are criminals.
Their actions contradict to the teachings of Islam. Islam is committed to tolerance and equality, and it is committed to the principles of democracy. It is ironic that despite the strong commitment to democracy, most Muslims are living in dictatorships. The Muslim people want freedom, They want modernity diversity and democracy. They want the right to debate, discuss and dissent.
Muslim women want to stop their discrimination.
The businessmen and women dream of competing freely without the barriers of corruption and cronyism.
Our need is for judges who are not bribed or intimidated; of political parties that are not decimated through state sponsored factionalism.
Of political leaders who are not political prisoners or exiles.
This is the exact opposite of the fanatical and ignorant message spread by the Taliban and their allies in hate.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The twenty-first century began with hope of a golden era of human dignity and fundamental rights. But September 11 ended one period in time and heralded the birth of another.
Asia became the new theatre of war. The war in Afghanistan. The threat of war in Baghdad. The violence in the Middle-East. The tension in the South Asia.
Muslims in Asia, and across the world, suffer because of Al-Qaeda and its war against the west.
During the Afghan-Soviet war, Pakistan became the breeding ground for their religious manipulation and exploitation.
My government restored law and order to our cities under assault from terrorist attack. We restored the writ of government. We stopped Pakistan from being declared as terrorist state. We rescued it from bankruptcy and collapse.
So they organized and financed schemes to topple my government. They destabilized democracy in Pakistan.
Ladies and gentlemen, these fanatics greatest fear is the democracy, diversity and modernization.
It was in the clusters of democracy and equality that I devoted my attention as Prime Minister of Pakistan.
My government modernized Pakistan introducing optic fiber communications, cellular telephones, satellite dishes, Internet and computer literacy programmes.
Pakistan integrated into the global economy that the fanatics fear. We became one of the ten emerging capital markets of the world, attracting billions of dollars in foreign investment, particularly in power generation.
It was a transformation that was bringing Pakistan into the modern era as a model of what moderate, enlightened Islam could accomplish for its people.
To Islam at the crossroads, a democratic Pakistan was one fork in the road, dictatorship the other.
With the eclipse of democracy in Pakistan in 1996 the Taliban seized Kabul. They invited in Al-Qaeda allowing it to raise, recruit and train disaffected Muslim Youth from across Asia. Two years after my overthrow , Bin Laden declared war on the west.
I am afraid, ladies and gentlemen, that the consequences of that elimination of democracy in Pakistan continues to ripple across Asia.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Osama Bin Ladin did not emerge suddenly. His movement was long in the making, and there is responsibility that must never be allowed to happen again.
In our zeal to defeat the Soviets, we failed to work for a post-war Afghanistan built on the democratic principles of coalition, consensus and compromise.
The fundamental mistake was that we were not consistently committed to the values of freedom, democracy and self-determination that undermine the basis tenets of terrorism. We must not repeat that mistake again. Democracy and
human rights must be the centerpiece of Asian policy at home and abroad.
Just as democracies do not make war against other democracies, democracies also do not sponsor terrorism.
Those of us who are committed to human rights and democracy abhor terrorism in all of its murderous forms. At this time of political crisis in the world, I urge the Asian political parties to stand for the values and principles of freedom and the rule of law.
The October elections in Pakistan were a mockery of justice. The leaders of Pakistan’s major political parties were banned from contesting. Significantly Mullah Omar’s teacher was allowed to contest and enter Parliament.
The Pakistan Human Rights Commission confirmed allegations of rigging. The European Union called the elections flawed. The Commonwealth refused to re-admit Pakistan amidst its members.
The White House called this period a transition to civilian rule. The transition must give away soon to full democracy. It must give way to a full transfer of power from the military to the political parties to prevent a resurgence of militancy extremism terrorism and suicide bombings.
Muslim youth in Asia must be motivated to live, rather than kill and be killed.
The rigged elections in Pakistan made the religions parties contenders for power for the first time in Pakistan’s history. Since the elections were rigged, I ask myself: why did the Generals permit the religious parties to sweep the Pakistani areas bordering Afghanistan?
Perhaps the Generals wanted to tell the world that the choice in Pakistan is a choice between military dictatorship and religious constraint.
But there is a third choice: the choice that the people want, the choice that a transparent election can give them: the choice of democracy and development.
Dictatorship doesn’t constrain extremism, it provokes it. Building a moderate, stable and democratic Afghanistan would have marginalized the Taliban and the Osamas of this world before they embroiled parts of Asia in a new struggle shaped by the use of terror.
Building a moderate, stable and democratic Pakistan can save South Asia from conflict, bloodshed, extremism, misery and despair.
The military regime’s October electoral farce must not be allowed to stand.
A democratic Pakistan is the world’s best guarantee of the triumph of moderation and modernity amongst the Muslims of Asia who stand at the crossroads of our history.
Events over the last several months in Delhi, Islamabad and Sprinagar underscore the danger.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Kashmir is long considered by the CIA as the most likely place for a nuclear confrontation.
Since the overthrow of my government, India and Pakistan thrice came close to war.
A military regime was the cinder block to the expansion of extremism in Afghanistan and to a possible nuclear conflict in South Asia.
As I noted before, democracies don’t go to war against other democracies and democracies don’t allow terrorists to operate on their soil. The best and only control for the excesses of extremism, is accountability to the people.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
In the dawn of this young century, we Asians fight against terrorism. We fight against dictatorship and intolerance that will confine and constrain and victimize in the generations ahead.
These are difficult times. Freedom is under assault. Democracy is under assault. Poverty, hunger and unemployment increases as terrorism hurts markets. Asian people suffer.
The solutions will not be quick or simple. But Asia shall overcome the obstacles to triumph.
As an Asian leader in the twenty first century the greatest challenge I see is to overcome terrorism. Asians need peace, freedom and free markets to fight poverty, hunger, unemployment and conflict.
A brighter future is anchored in peace, in freedom, in equal opportunity and in breaking the chains of fascism and dictatorship.
These were the values our forefathers fought for in confronting colonialism.
There are the values that can sustain and strengthen us in this new century.
At this historic Asia conference, I urge all Asian political parties to stand by the values of peace, of freedom and of equal opportunity.
Thank you ladies and gentlemen.