Emphasizing Pakistan’s commitment to ending terrorism and vowing to correct glaring social woes, President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf, addressed Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government last night.
“We are striving to build a nation which is modern, moderate, tolerant and a progressive, democratic, Islamic state,” Musharraf said to an audience of Harvard professors, students and alumni.
Musharraf has been in the international spotlight since Sept. 11, when he joined Pakistan in the international coalition against terrorism.
He stressed his and his country’s rejection of the Islamic fundamentalist extremism and “illiterate view of Islam” that he said are detrimental to Pakistani law and order.
However, he later cautioned against simplistic and prejudiced views of Islam, which he claimed create distorted views of terrorism.
“Islam neither supports nor condones terrorism,” Musharraf said.
As president, he maintains the support of a majority of Pakistani citizens who promote the “progressive concept of true Islam,” he said.
“I remain determined not to allow a fringe element to hold the entire nation hostage and hijack our agenda for reforms,” Musharraf said.
Since coming to office three years ago after acting as Chief of Staff of the Pakistani military, he has attempted to reconstruct and reform the nation, initializing a process that begins with the economy, Musharraf said.
“At its core, this reform process has four areas of focus,” he explained. “It seeks economic revival — the base of all other progress — governance, political restructuring to ensure stable and enduring democracy and human resource development focused on poverty alleviation.”
Economic areas such as agriculture, information technology and energy have all yielded positive results according to macroeconomic indicators, Musharraf said. He cited specific successes, such as substantially decreased foreign and domestic debts and a 3 percent inflation rate that is an all-time low for the country.
Primary challenges to the continuation of economic progress are further debt reduction, the attraction of foreign investment and especially the reduction of poverty, he said.
The nation is taking a holistic approach to education reform that Musharraf hopes will help yield solutions to that major problem. By dealing with “all facets of education,” including literacy, quality of instruction and teachers and higher education, Pakistan will be putting a “maximum investment in human capital,” Musharraf said.
Increasing women’s participation in government is an important element to political restructuring as well as “building a human rights culture,” Musharraf explained. Later, Musharraf elaborated on the process of gender empowerment, in which seats are reserved for women aside from the seats they are eligible to win in regular elections.
To aid in political reforms, Musharraf emphasized checks and balances on the president, prime minister and army chief of staff, which he labeled as “power brokers” in Pakistani government. He recommended a National Security Council that would act as a forum for leaders to discuss internal governmental problems.
“I am extremely democratic,” he said. “You have to believe me when I say that.”
Musharraf also addressed significant international issues such as the development of Afghanistan and the ongoing conflict with India.
He cited a statistic of 3.5 million refugees from Afghanistan as a justification for aiding American intervention in the nation.
“The only solution to the Afghan refugee problem is the return of the refugees to a secure and peaceful Afghanistan,” he said. “Pakistan has a legitimate interest in having a friendly Afghanistan on its western border.”
Musharraf condemned Indian manipulations of Kashimiri relations, and said “Indo-Pakistani relations are at their lowest ebb.” Peace, he said during the question-and-answer session following the speech, is impossible without resolution of the Kashmir dispute.
“Pakistan has made major commitments and taken significant steps to ease the current crisis,” Musharraf said, mentioning the Pakistani offer of de-nuclearization of Southeast Asia as an example. “India must take reciprocal steps in order to impart permanence and sustainability to our initiatives for peace.”
He commended the actions of President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell in aiding negotiations and called on the United States to take advantage of their friendly ties with both nations to “facilitate the resolution of this core dispute.”
He also suggested the United States and Pakistan strengthen their partnership to “create a new international order based on a universally shared vision of justice, fair play and mutual respect in which we are all partners and participants.”