LONDON, Feb 12: British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Tuesday said that in Pakistan, the path to democracy begins with free and fair elections, “but it needs deeper roots: an independent judiciary, a commitment from the army to stay out of politics, and devolution of powers to states (provinces) and local government.”

And without naming President Musharraf directly, the foreign secretary tore to pieces the arguments of the Pakistani leader for continuing his dictatorial system with a democratic façade.

Miliband was speaking on Democratic Imperative at the Aung San Suu Kyi Lecture.

He termed as dangerously narrow and short term the charge that democracy is not always in the national interest, that sometimes democracy is a luxury that nations cannot afford because either prosperity or security must be achieved first, that trade and investment before democracy; that fighting terrorism trumps individual rights.

“In my view democracy is the best custodian of trade. Free trade and investment rely on confidence that governments will protect property rights, operate in a transparent way, and avoid hidden subsidies and distortions; I also believe that established democracies are less likely to fight each other. Their intentions and motives are more transparent. They are better able to build trust with other states,” he added.

He said the main security threat, from terrorism and conflict, comes not from conflict between states, but within states, local disputes and ethnic divisions escalate into wider regional conflicts, groups that begin with local grievances increasingly become co-opted by Al Qaeda into global terrorism.

According to Miliband in weak states, there are no military solutions to the insecurity and injustice that helps to breed terrorism, only political solutions.

“In my mind there is no doubt: the rule of law in a democracy is the best long term defence against global terrorism and conflict,” he asserted.

Quoting Victor Hugo he said you can defeat armies, but you can’t defeat ideas.

Last September, he recalled, when so many people were prepared to risk their lives by coming out onto the streets of Rangoon, in what he said he would call a ‘civilian surge’, “we saw that, for all its brutality and for all its corruption, the Military Junta in Burma has been unable to destroy the hope of a better and freer life. The people of Burma show that the hope for a life lived at liberty extends to all people in all parts of the world.”

“It is fitting, therefore, that I should make this speech in the Oxford College where Aung San Suu Kyi not only undertook her undergraduate education but also met her late husband, the distinguished scholar, Dr Michael Aris. Aung San Suu Kyi remains today what she has been for twenty years: a beacon of hope in the struggle for democracy in Burma. And a beacon of hope beyond Burma too - the civilian surge there is not an isolated phenomenon.

He said according to global polling by Gallup, eight out of 10 people want to live in a democracy, closer to nine out of 10 in Africa.

Again without naming Pakistan specifically Miliband said: “Tellingly, even where democracy is absent, dictators seek to describe their rule as ‘democratic’ to provide a veil of legitimacy for their regimes.”