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Pakistan tourism minister resigns over hugging
Pakistan's Minister of Tourism has resigned after being criticised by a hardline Islamist cleric for hugging her instructor after completing a charity parachute jump in France.Nilofar Bakhtiar, one of three women ministers in the Pakistani cabinet, completed the jump in March to raise money for victims of an earthquake that killed 73,000 people in Pakistan in October 2005. When Pakistani newspapers published a photograph of Ms Bakhtiar hugging parachute instructor, a pro-Taliban cleric issued a decree calling on the government to sack her for "obscenity". In her letter of resignation to the prime minister Ms Bakhtiar wrote: "It is with deep regret that I want to relinquish the charge of the office of minister for tourism." She added: "Despite my exceptional commitment to the cause of tourism in Pakistan, I have taken the decision due to unavoidable circumstances." An official in Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's office confirmed that Ms Bakhtiar had handed in her resignation but he had yet to accept it. Ms Bakhtiar was not available for comment but a newspaper cited her as saying she had been hurt by the way her parachute jump was sensationalised. "French media praised my daring attempt but unfortunately some irresponsible elements in Pakistan presented this noble cause in a malicious manner," she told the Dawn newspaper. Criticism from radical clerics is not to be taken lightly in Pakistan. In February, a Muslim zealot shot dead a woman minister of the government of Punjab province because he thought women should not be in politics. The gunman was sentenced to death in March. Posted by: ryuge 2007-05-23 |
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