Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto Visits Stanford University

By Mary Nicole Nazzaro

"Ms. Bhutto," said the young man standing at the microphone, waving a single sheet of paper. "On our way into the auditorium this evening, we were given a list of alleged crimes committed by the Pakistani government under your rule. Have you seen this list?"

The man, a student at Stanford University, walked up to the stage at Stanford's Memorial Auditorium and handed the sheet to Ms. Bhutto. The list included accusations of corruption, money laundering, illegal acquisition of foreign property and failure to live up to campaign promises regarding the repeal of harsh restrictions placed on Pakistani women.

Asked to comment on the validity of the charges, Ms. Bhutto replied, "I have my critics, and they have the right to express their views."

Ms. Bhutto, a Radcliffe- and Oxford-trained political scientist and two-time Pakistani prime minister, has grown accustomed to deflecting attacks. Her poise under pressure from the students' questions reflected the experience of a political career that has included imprisonment, exile, and charges of corruption. It has also included two stints as the democratically-elected prime minister, the first ever for a woman in an Arab country.

Ms. Bhutto's speech last Thursday night to a capacity crowd of 1200 marked a return to the familiar territory of an American university, but with a new urgency. No longer is Ms. Bhutto simply a symbol—of democracy and of women's advancement in the Arab world to her supporters, and of corruption and privilege to her detractors. She represents a country about which most Americans know very little, but which is now playing a crucial role in the U.S.-led anti-terror campaign in neighboring Afghanistan.

Though her message was one of protecting democracy at all costs, Ms. Bhutto's first words were those of sympathy for the losses suffered in the terrorist attacks of September 11. "The majority of the people of Pakistan join me in expressing our grief and sorrow to you," she said. "We respect America as the beacon of the light of democracy for civilized people on this earth. Men and women come here by the millions upon millions seeking freedom, opportunity, equality, and pluralism. These are the values that the extremists and the fanatics deny, even as they promote violence and death."

Ms. Bhutto made a clear distinction between the beliefs of the radical Islamists who are believed to have sponsored the September 11 attacks and the theological realities of Islam. The religion, she claims, has been hijacked by al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization headed by Osama bin Laden, as justification for its acts.

"At this time of crisis, it's important for the American leaders and people to understand the difference between the religion of Islam and those who would use its name to spread terror," Ms. Bhutto said. "The two are very different. One is religion, the other is politics. Those who exploit the name of Islam are hypocrites. They who killed innocents are criminals. They are not clerics. Their actions are contradictory to everything in the Muslim holy book, and the teachings of the prophet of Islam."

As expected, Ms. Bhutto's speech included a plea for Americans to support the movement for democracy in Pakistan, now a major player in the American-led coalition against bin Laden's terror network. Pakistan's military dictator, General Pervez Musharraf, has had to balance sympathy for bin Laden among many Pakistanis with the United States' insistence that in the wake of the destruction of New York's World Trade Center, Musharraf's government can no longer support the ruling Taliban coalition in Afghanistan.

Complicating the situation further is Musharraf's goal of holding elections in Pakistan in 2002, a situation that Ms. Bhutto would surely welcome. But doubts remain as to Pakistan's ability to successfully and permanently adopt a democratic path. Even as Musharraf walks a diplomatic tightrope in the war against terrorism, the reality is that many in the country support the views, if not always the methods, of bin Laden.

Despite the controversy surrounding her, Ms. Bhutto continues to hold fast to the idea that Pakistan can return to a lasting democracy. Born into privilege, she returned to Pakistan after graduate studies in England only to see her father, then-Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, deposed by a military coup and executed in 1979.

Ms. Bhutto and her mother were elected the joint chairs of the Pakistani People's Party in 1986. Two years later Ms. Bhutto, then 35, was elected Prime Minister in the first free elections in Pakistan in eleven years, becoming the youngest chief executive in the world at that time. In 1990, President Ghulam Ishaque Khan abruptly dismissed Ms. Bhutto's government and called for new elections. In 1993, when the government was again dismissed from power, Ms. Bhutto was re-elected Prime Minister, a position she held until 1996, when her government was again dismissed.

Currently Ms. Bhutto lives in exile with her family in the United Arab Emirates, but she makes no secret of wishing to return to Pakistan to re-establish democratic rule. Her speech at Stanford led the audience through a history of Pakistan's experience with extremism, from the rise of schools designed to train fighters against the Soviet Union during its occupation of Afghanistan, to the withdrawal of the West as soon as the Soviets were defeated and the resulting powder keg of religious fervor and discontent that Pakistan was left to deal with.

Ms. Bhutto also spoke of the terrorist acts perpetrated against her government while she was in power: the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad was attacked, and assassinations of diplomats and business executives took place in Karachi and other cities. Ms. Bhutto's stirring conclusion echoed in the silence of the packed auditorium. "One must never give in," she said. "One must never, never, never let fear stand in the way of justice."

Ms. Bhutto's appearance brought out alternative voices in the Bay Area South Asian community, including representatives of an informal organization calling itself South Asians For Peace. Members held placards outside Memorial Auditorium protesting the recent United States military action in Afghanistan. Though the focus of Ms. Bhutto's talk was on the future of Pakistan itself and not on its ongoing territorial conflict with India, that situation was very much on the minds of the demonstrators.

Stanford Ph.D. student Suraj Jacob, a native of India, was among them. He held a poster reading "Stop The Bombing, Start The Dialogue" as he explained his organization's goals in demonstrating outside the auditorium. "Bhutto's speech is a good opportunity for us to do an outreach," he said. "We feel that more peaceful means [of solving the conflict] have not been explored, and that things should be taken more rationally." Jacob added that the violence could add to the instability of the entire region, which could ultimately exacerbate the tension between India and Pakistan over the disputed Kashmir region.

Nerja Bhatt, another Indian native and an employee of a technical firm in Silicon Valley, noted that "a lot of people in India don't want India and Pakistan to be at war. The government is very right-wing; they are the ones who want war. This is a viewpoint that doesn't get much voice in the media."

Inside, Bhutto concluded by encouraging the students not to let the sheer enormity of the attacks of September 11 dampen their resolve to protect the freedoms they enjoy in America and to encourage democracy around the world. "The greatest fear of the terrorists to my mind is the spread of information, social equality and democracy. These three principles choke off the oxygen of terrorism," Ms. Bhutto said. "You are the future of this great nation. Be strong, for time, justice, and the forces of history are on your side."