Paying glowing tributes to former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's singular contribution to promotion of democracy and women's rights, an American foundation, The Louise T Blouin Foundation, posthumously conferred its top award on the acclaimed Pakistani leader.
The award was received by Ms Bhutto's aunt Behjet Hariri in the presence of President Zardari as a distinguished gathering of writers, artists, diplomats and business leaders, expressed their appreciation for the Benazir Bhutto with a prolonged ovation.
Nobel laureate, Eric Kandel, who announced the 'Global Creative Leadership' award, cited the Pakistani icon's courageous and inspiring leadership in the face of heavy odds, particularly in the dark days of Zia ul Haq's dictatorship, when she lived through rigors of solitary confinement.
"It is through our memory of Benazir Bhutto that she will live on forever as a symbol of an extraordinary leader, who combined great curiosity and intellect with determination and courage, pereseverence and courage." "At the time of her first election at the age 35, she was one of the youngest political leaders in the world and the first woman to serve as prime minister of an Islamic country," added Kandel, who knew prime minister Ms Bhutto. She epitomised modernity in a male-dominated political establishment, he stated. Also receiving the award at the ceremony were prime minister of Finland Matti Vanhanen, a world leader dedicated to environmental causes, and a famous designer of the Western world, Bruce Mau.
Accepting the award, Hariri called her an endearing leader, who "meant so much to so many people in Pakistan and around the world." Introducing President Zardari, host Louise Blouin hailed him as a skilled politician, who is striving for reconciliation in his country confronting a spate of challenges.
"Zardari's political career spans over two decades, working closely with Benazir Bhutto. During this period he helped formualte policies that expanded the freedom of the media, revolutionised telecommunication and opened Pakistan to foreign direct investment." She said Zardari was imprisoned for an excruciatingly long period of eleven years on charges that were never proved in a court of law and he remained steadfast to his ideas of promoting democracy and welfare of the masses.
President Zardari, who was a keynote speaker at the ceremony, recalled Benazir Bhutto's qualities of head and heart as a human being and as a unique public figure, who braved countless challenges in her fight for democracy and human rights. "To the world she was an icon; To me she was a loving wife, the mother of my children and also my leader," President said, expressing his feelings on the occasion.
"Her assassination has different meanings for different people. The world mourns her for the moral and political crisis created by her assassination. My children and I mourn her for that, but also for much, much more. We also mourn her for her warmth, her humour, and her ability to feel other people's pain."
"Benazir Bhutto was the first elected female leader of an Islamic state. This will always be the first line of her life sketch." "But she was also a woman proud of her cultural heritage. She believed in the true meaning and spirit of Islam. She believed in tolerance, dialogue and democracy. She believed that in her religion man and women were equal."
Zardari said, Ms Bhutto tried to spread education among girls and built tens of thousands of schools, recruited one hundred thousand teachers, seventy thousand of whom were women, appointed women to the superior judiciary, believing that gender equality was essential to the dispensation of justice, opened women police stations because social stigmas prevented women from reporting crimes against them. She ran advertising campaigns, informing women that violence against them, by their family members was illegal. She opened special hostels for women abused by husbands, he added.
The governments led by Benazir Bhutto made Pakistan polio free for the first time. "It lifted the ban on women in sports." "More than anything else, she gave inspiration to every woman, that she too could become a Benazir," Zardari remarked.
"In short Benazir was everything the fundamentalist mindset most feared. Her dream of an enlightened and modern Islamic state was the militants' nightmare. But this is the model of Islam that she believed in and that must be sustained." The president also referred to the challenges facing the Muslim world, saying as one and a half billion Muslims aspire for development, they are faced with a choice.
"Education or ignorance, the past or the future. And central to this choice is the status of women in Islamic societies. Because opportunities for women mean weakening of the Taliban ideology." President Zardari reaffirmed his government's commitment to women's rights.
"And at this critical time, I recommit to my martyred wife's vision of a new Pakistan. I commit my presidency to her dream of women empowerment, economic empowerment, legal empowerment, strengthening of democratic institutions, and defeating terrorism before it claims another generation of victims."
He said democracies of the world could speed up the process of reconciliation and development by helping democracy in Pakistan. "But let us be frank. Benazir Bhutto often said that democracy alone is not enough. Giving women and men the right to select their leaders is important. But this alone does not guarantee justice. Justice and liberty are defined not merely by political values. They are also defined by economic and social values."
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