Pakistan's leader backs moderate Islam

UNITED NATIONS (AP) _ Pakistan's president called terrorism and discrimination "un-Islamic," on Thursday and urged world leaders to follow the moderate Islam advocated by his assassinated wife, Benazir Bhutto.

Asif Ali Zardari made the appeal in a speech to a U.N. interfaith conference initiated by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and designed to bridge differences between religions and cultures.

President Bush, who spoke just before Zardari in what was likely to be his last address to the world body, echoed the call for moderation.

"We believe God calls us to live in peace -- and to oppose all those who use His name to justify violence and murder," Bush said.

Zardari invoked his wife's belief in "a moderate, modern and loving Islam" half a dozen times in his speech.

"In following the true spirit of Islam, the great leader of my country ... Benazir Bhutto fought and laid down her life advocating dialogue and tolerance and opposing extremism," he said.

Zardari urged the high-level meeting to start a global quest for "reconciliation" — also the title of Bhutto's last book, published after she was killed in a gun-and-bomb attack in December while campaigning to be prime minister again.

He called himself the elected representative of 180 million Pakistanis suffering from the "menace of hatred."

"To me, there is nothing more un-Islamic than discrimination ... than violence against women," he said. "And above all, there is nothing more un-Islamic than terrorism."

Zardari urged all countries to unite behind an international agenda in which "hate speech aimed at inciting people against any religion must be unacceptable (and) injustice and discrimination on the mere basis of one's faith must be discouraged."

Countries should also agree that "nations with little resources caught in the crossfire of extremism should be helped, strengthened and aided by the international community," he said.

Zardari praised the Saudi king for decrying those who use religion to advance "a rigid and extremist political agenda" and called for religion to be a bridge to bring nations together.

Bush met on the sidelines of the conference with the king of Saudi Arabia, a country criticized for religious intolerance.

Abdullah, whose country bans non-Muslims from openly practicing their religion, has expressed interest in increasing inter-religious goodwill, encouraging meetings between sects of Islam and asking Muslims to reach out to their non-Muslim neighbors.

Bush, one of 14 world leaders to speak at the conference, said expanding democracy is one of the best ways to safeguard religious freedom and promote peace.

"People who are free to express their opinions can challenge the ideologies of hate," he said. "They can defend their religious beliefs and speak out against those seeking to twist them to evil ends. They can prevent their children from falling under the sway of extremists by giving them a more hopeful alternative."

The conference is a follow-up to a meeting King Abdullah helped organize in July in Madrid.

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