Bhutto: I began a journey

Karachi: As I boarded the plane that took me home to Pakistan, I carried with me a manuscript of a book I am writing that will be published shortly.

It is a treatise on the reconciliation of the values of Islam and the West and a prescription for a moderate and modern Islam that marginalises religious extremists, returns the military from politics to their barracks and treats all citizens - and especially women - with full and equal rights.

It also selects its leaders by free and fair elections, and provides for transparent, democratic governance that addresses the social and economic needs of the people as its highest priority.

To me this is not just a book but a campaign manifesto, a guide to governing.

If the people of Pakistan honour me again with an opportunity to lead, I fully intend to practice what I preach; to have my actions match my rhetoric and to make Pakistan a positive model to one billion Muslims around the world for our future in the new millennium.

For sixty years my nation has lurched between military dictatorships and democracy.

The promise that is Pakistan has been stifled by political oppression and economic stagnation. For almost a decade we have been ruled by a military dictatorship. For the last five years we have been challenged by an international terrorism movement that seems unfortunately to have the tribal areas of Pakistan at its very epicentre.

These are not ordinary times, and they require extraordinary solutions.

Over the last several months I have negotiated with General Pervez Musharraf to simultaneously ensure a transition to democracy in Pakistan and to mobilise the moderate middle of our society to confront and contain fanatics and extremists.

It has been a difficult process, made even more difficult by the resistance of many who now enjoy power in Pakistan. But the long discussions have born some fruit.

In September General Musharaf promised the Supreme Court he would retire from the post of army chief before taking the oath of office for president for a new term.

This month the government announced a set of confidence building measures codified initially in the Ordinance of National Reconciliation to pave the way for a legitimate and accountable Parliament.

It is not a perfect agreement, and it certainly is not an end to the process. But it is an important beginning to the transition to democracy, with the goal of bringing reform and political change without the chaos and bloodshed under which extremism and militancy thrive. In the next phase, more confidence building measures are expected.

The forces of moderation and democracy must, and will, prevail against extremism and dictatorship. I will not be intimidated. When I stepped out on to the tarmac in Karachi I did not complete a journey, but began one. Despite threats of death, I will not acquiesce to tyranny, but rather lead the fight against it.

Three decades of trials and tribulations

April 4, 1979: Bhutto's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, is executed for the murder of a political opponent, two years after his ouster as prime minister in a military coup.

April 10, 1986: Bhutto returns from exile in London to lead the Pakistan Peoples Party that her father founded.

December 1, 1988: Bhutto, aged 35, becomes the first woman prime minister of a Muslim nation after winning parliamentary elections.

August 6, 1990: President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismisses Bhutto's government, citing corruption and a failure to control ethnic violence.

October 19, 1993: Bhutto takes oath for a second term as prime minister.

November 5, 1996: President Farooq Leghari dismisses the administration amid accusations of nepotism and undermining the justice system.

April 14, 1999: A court finds Bhutto guilty of corruption while she is out of the country. The conviction was later quashed, but she remains in exile.

October 5, 2007: President Pervez Musharraf signs a corruption amnesty covering other cases against Bhutto, opening the way for her return and a possible power-sharing agreement.