a259  1740  08 Jun 89
AM-Bhutto-Harvard,0405
Bhutto Calls on Free Countries To Bolster Fledgling Democracies
LaserPhoto BX5
By ARLENE LEVINSON
Associated Press Writer
    CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on
Thursday urged nations with strong democratic traditions to help
reinforce fledging democracies like her own by forming an Association
of Democratic Nations.
    ''Democracy needs support and the best support for democracy comes
from other democracies. ... Democratic nations should ... come
together in an association designed to help each other and promote
what is a universal value - democracy,'' Ms. Bhutto said in her
keynote address at 338th commencement exercises at Harvard
University, her alma mater.
    Ms. Bhutto said the association could help bolster freedom by
sending observers to monitor elections in countries struggling to
maintain democracy.
    ''It is much harder to steal an election if the whole world is
watching,'' Ms. Bhutto told an estimated crowd of 25,000.
    An association of democracies could also mobilize world opinion
against leaders of any coup and take such steps as economic sanctions
while using foreign aid as a reward for democracy, she said.
    ''There is nothing wrong with rewarding an idea in which the donors
believe. The prospects for democracy may depend upon it,'' she said.
    Ms. Bhutto added a plea for understanding Muslim countries, saying
many outsiders mistakenly believe democracy can't survive in a
country like Pakistan.
    ''But I stand before you, a Muslim woman, the elected prime minister
of one hundred million Muslims, a living refutation of such
arguments,'' she said.
    The 35-year-old prime minister, the first woman in modern times to
lead a Moslem country, is a 1973 graduate of Radcliffe.
    When asked at a brief news conference later to comment on recent
events in China, Ms. Bhutto said, ''Pakistan and China have a very
old association and friendship and it was through Pakistan that the
United States restored its links with China.
    ''We regret the loss of human lives and would like to see a return
to the restraint that was initially taken,'' she continued. ''Many
who have friendships with China have been very disturbed with what
has been going on there.''
    Since her arrival in the United States on Monday, Ms. Bhutto has met
privately with President Bush and other government officials and
addressed Congress. She planned to visit the United Nations on Friday
before departing the next day for Pakistan.
    
 
AP-NY-06-08-89 2030EDT
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