Defeat Taliban with fair polls in Pakistan

The recent unannounced visit of the US Vice-President Dick Cheney to Pakistan, in which he once again pressed President General Pervez Musharraf to stop tolerating Taliban-related activities, highlights what I have been saying for the past several years: My country, Pakistan, is facing a political crisis, not exclusively a military one.

I fully agree with the US President George W. Bush's clear statement in his 2006 State of the Union message in which he said:

"Dictatorships shelter terrorists and feed resentment and radicalism, and seek weapons of mass destruction. Democracies replace resentment with hope, respect the rights of their citizens and their neighbours and join the fight against terror. Every step towards freedom in the world makes our country safer, so we will act boldly in freedom's cause."

This statement accurately reflects the situation in Pakistan under the present military regime. We have read more and more frequently in the world press that Islamabad is unable or unwilling to stop the Taliban and Al Qaida from conducting activities in Pakistan's tribal areas.

They then cross the border to Afghanistan to tragically kill American and Nato troops who are trying to protect the democratically elected government in that country. The present regime's inability to successfully take on the Taliban and Al Qaida undermine the elected government of our neighbour - Afghanistan.

If elected prime minister of Pakistan in the election to be held later this year, I will end that protection of the Taliban and Al Qaida immediately. My party has the experience of dealing with militants and armed mafias.

In my first term in office, in the late 1980s, my government took on the narco barons. They were the predecessors of the Taliban and Al Qaida. They had irregular armies, weapons, rocket launchers and money, and hid in the tribal areas, where they launched attacks on the Pakistani government forces. But we tamed them.

When I took over as prime minister for the second time, in 1993, the Pakistan army had been called out in the port city of Karachi to battle ethnic militants who held the city hostage.

My government was able to mobilise the people, obtain good intelligence and wipe out the militant cells. We restored peace to Karachi and can restore peace to the tribal areas of Pakistan.

Initially, in 1993 and 1994, the Taliban gained a great deal of support in Pakistan. This was due to the fact that Pakistan has a 1,500-mile border with Afghanistan, and at that time our neighbouring country was in chaos. We needed some peace and stability along our border and not continual fighting along with millions of Afghan refugees pouring into our country.

After I was undemocratically ousted from power by president Farooq Leghari, who was backed by the army intelligence agency known as Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the ISI turned its attention to external relations. It provided support for the Taliban government in Afghanistan, believing it gave Pakistan strategic depth.

Supporting fanatics

Elements of the intelligence agency reportedly continue that alliance with both the Taliban and Al Qaida to this very day on the same premise - even if it means supporting fanatics. It is not a premise my party and I share. We believe that it's essential for Pakistan to support democracy in Afghanistan. We believe in democracy.

I am very proud to have degrees from both Harvard University and Oxford University. Although a deeply dedicated Muslim, I have grown to highly respect and cherish the finest in the Western traditions of freedom, equal rights for all, democracy, a free press, and the ability of all men and women to have economic opportunity and physical security.

My party - the Pakistan Peoples Party - won the most number of votes in the last election held in Pakistan, in October 2002, despite the fact that I could not go back and campaign as its chairperson. We are also aware that the party of the Musharraf dictatorship stole many of our votes in that 2002 election.

I shall contest in the election of 2007. Hopefully, the United States and other countries will prevail on the current Pakistani military dictatorship to hold fair and free elections open to all parties and all personalities, including myself and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

I hope I can return to my country without being arrested on trumped-up charges to hobble the opposition and give an unfair advantage to the very group under whom the Taliban have resurrected themselves.

We must transform our nation from a terrorist hiding place to one that is open, peaceful and prosperous. Free elections in Pakistan can make that happen.

Benazir Bhutto was prime minister of Pakistan twice. She is running again in this year's upcoming election as leader of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party.