Bhutto Backs Allies in Gulf, Urges Action on U.N. Issues

The first woman to head an Islamic country, Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said here Tuesday that she supports allied efforts to free Kuwait, but she called on the United States to seek resolution of other United Nations issues, such as a homeland for Palestinians.

Bhutto--who was ousted from office last summer--spoke in Los Angeles to call for peace in the Middle East and bring attention to what she said is her country’s slide into military dictatorship.

“I don’t want anyone to get the impression that, because I am here today, life is not hell for many in Pakistan,” Bhutto told about 200 people at a meeting sponsored by Town Hall, a civic organization.

Bhutto--who said she wants to represent “liberal democratic Muslims in the world community”--told the audience that Pakistan desperately needs U.S. financial assistance, even though the ruling government that drove her from power is curtailing freedoms and returning to military rule.

The former prime minister called for resumption of hundreds of millions of dollars in proposed U.S. economic and military aid that was frozen last fall because her country would not curtail programs apparently capable of producing nuclear weapons.

“The United States should come up with a regional solution, such as declare South Asia a nuclear-free zone,” said Bhutto, who is opposition leader in Pakistan’s National Assembly.

Bhutto asked that, after Operation Desert Storm, the United States push for enforcement of other U.N. resolutions, such as one calling for a vote among the people of Kashmir to decide whether to belong to India or Pakistan.

Tension over a growing separatist movement in Kashmir, most of which is under India’s rule, has for the past year threatened to spark war between India and Pakistan.

“Once the Gulf War is resolved, the United Nations and the world must move on to other issues,” Bhutto said. “Let Kuwait be the precedent for movement on the legitimate rights of Palestinian people.”

Bhutto was elected prime minister in November, 1988, but was fired in August amid charges of corruption and incompetence, which she said are without basis.

While in office, Bhutto said, she reduced unemployment and raised spending on health and education. She said that, despite much opposition, she was able to lift some restrictions against women by, for example, creating family planning clinics.

“I had to fight against people who believe a woman’s place is behind a closed door,” said Bhutto, who was educated at Radcliffe and Oxford.

Bhutto said she faces strong opposition from Muslim fundamentalists who oppose democracy. “I believe Islam is the religion of equality,” Bhutto said. “I believe democracy is irreversible.”