ISLAMABAD, May 2: Pakistan People’s Party Chairperson Benazir Bhutto says democratisation of Pakistan is important to the war on terrorism, to the interpretation of Islam as a message of freedom and enlightenment as well as to the empowerment of the people of Pakistan.

Addressing the students and faculty of the Harvard University in the United States on Sunday, she said there were dangers of militancy and terrorism in Indonesia but its army did not use that as an excuse to seize power.

“It recognises that the respect of nations, including its motherland, comes from democratic norms and from constitutional governance,” she said.

Urging Islamabad to emulate Indonesia, she said it needed to learn from the Philippines, which too had military dictatorship and controlled democracy and found that neither worked.

She said Indonesia had made its transition to democracy and its generals had gone back to the barracks. “They respect the civilian leadership and carry out orders despite facing a difficult situation in Timor and Aceh.”

On character-assassination of the political leaders by dictators, she said it had become a fashion both in the developed and developing world over the last decade to malign the leaders by innuendo, allegation and rumour.

Ms bhutto said in Pakistan bureaucrats, businessmen and cabinet members were arrested and tortured. Judgments were dictated to judges by the law ministry and the mainstream political parties were stopped from functioning freely.

She said the concept of people’s power was etched in her heart. “In time that etching has simply been fortified. I believe in people’s power.” About leadership, she said many believed that South Asian women leaders had inherited leadership through assassination of their loved ones.

“The other part is that each of us has to win our badges of honours by paying a political price. I believe 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 nation bringing an emotional commitment to protect and nurture our people.”

About Islam, she said it was a religion that sanctified Abraham, Moses and Jesus as prophets. It was a loving and tolerant religion whose image had been tarnished by fanatics, she said.

Ms Bhutto said when her government again came into power in 1993, the country’s growth rate rested at a dismal 2.0 per cent. “We tripled that to 6 per cent in three years. We were able to reduce our fiscal deficit by three points in three years from 8 per cent to 5 per cent of GDP. We doubled tax revenue from 7.2 per cent to 14.1 per cent. And we attracted more than $3 billion of direct foreign investment in Pakistan.

“It is my hope, my desire, my effort that with the support of the great people of Pakistan, that in my lifetime we shall see our country 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,” she said.