Raped Pakistani Woman Brings Fight to U.S.

I hope the Republicans will show more compassion for her then they do to their own US women ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -

In a quiet voice - almost a whisper - Mukhtar Mai spoke of her fight against a system back home in Pakistan that allowed a tribal council to deem it acceptable that four men could rape her to avenge their honor after her brother allegedly had sex with a woman above his class.

"I am fighting a fight against oppression, where women and the poor are oppressed ... by feudal lords," she said Monday night through an interpreter, reading from a prepared statement and addressing a group of human rights activists. "They have power and money, and all I have is you and your support. God willing, truth will have victory."

Mai's story is one of overcoming adversity and the difficulty of her ordeal was echoed, to a lesser degree, by the difficulty she had in coming to the United States where she is to receive Glamour Magazine's Woman of the Year Award on Wednesday in New York City.

While in the United States, she also hopes to further her plans to educate a new generation of Pakistanis about the need to end the kind of tribal law that sanctioned her rape, said Dr. Amna Buttar, a University of Wisconsin physician who served as her translator Monday.

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http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2005/nov/01/110109736.html

it was assumed that once she was gang raped, she would commit suicide. Instead, she pressed charges against the rapists. Recently, they were set free, and her life is now in danger. Rest assured that this type of tribal law is NOT following the Qur'an or any of the teachings of the Beloved Prophet. I add this because I wouldn't put it past the repukes to alledge that it does.

say about the rapist and the rape victim? If you do a search for "rape and bible," you can see that the bible is not that progressive.

says in part to revere women as they are the bearer of children. Sex should be treated not as a simple pleasure and definately not as an act of power over another, as sex itself is a sacred act that may result in a child.

I wonder where do the Saudis, Kuwaitis and virtually all Arab countries get their ideas then. Based on what you said, they should be paradises for women

and the Beloved Prophet, by example and by the words that came through him from God, tried his best to change the tribal ways. Women were very much looked down upon, and it was common to treat them as chattel. Before the time of Mohammed (Peace and Blessings be upon him), it was common to leave female infants out in the desert to die, to steal the dowary from a woman and then kick her out, etc, etc. Sadly, in many places the old culture, especially attitudes towards women, have held sway.

For the guts and determination of this woman. There must have been a time when she felt so alone, lost and terrified. She found her sacred, righteous rage and is taking it as far as she can.

Tuesday, June 21st, 2005
"I Will Go On Until I Have Even the Slightest Hope of Justice" - Rare Broadcast Interview With Pakistani Rape Survivor Mukhtar Mai

In June 2002, a group of men gang-raped Mukhtar Mai near her home in Pakistan. The rape was ordered by her local tribal counsel as punishment for a crime allegedly committed by her 12-year-old brother. After her rape, Mukhtar Mai was forced to walk home nearly naked before a jeering crowd of three hundred onlookers.

According to The New York Times, on average, a woman is raped every two hours in Pakistan, and two women a day die in so-called honor killings. Most of the cases go unnoticed, but Mukhtar Mai defied tradition by fighting back against her attackers in the courts. She testified against them. A number of them were convicted and sent to prison. With the compensation money she received, she opened elementary schools in her village.

Last week, Mukhtar Mai was back in the headlines when the Pakistani government barred her from leaving the country in an attempt to block her from publicizing her case. Amnesty International had planned to bring her to the United States. On the eve of her trip, she was detained by Pakistani government officials and placed under house arrest. The government then apparently tried to intimidate her by ordering the release of the 12 men connected to her rape.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf admitted that he had ordered Mukhtar placed on the no fly list, telling reporters "I don't want to project a bad image of Pakistan." But her detention had the opposite effect, sparking international condemnation. The Pakistani government now says Mukhtar Mai is free to travel wherever she wants. But there is one small problem - they confiscated her passport. Once again, Mukhtar Mai is refusing to be silent and is speaking out to the local and international media about her case. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof writes, "President Musharraf may have ousted rivals and overthrown a civilian government, but he has now met his match - a peasant woman with a heart of gold and a will of steel."

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/21/1335242&mode=thread&tid=25