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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Mukhtar Mai put under house arrest, her rapists freed |
| 2005-06-11 |
| Pakistan's most famous gang rape victim Mukhtar Mai, a courageous fighter turned social-worker, has been put under house arrest, her 12 rapists were ordered to be released from prison and General Pervez Musharraf's so called enlightened moderation has been dumped out into the deep gutter. All this has happened as Mai, a 35-year old village gal, who was punished by being gang raped on order of her village council in 2002, was planning a visit to the US on the invitation of some NGOs to highlight the miserable situation of women in Pakistan. But before she could leave her home for getting a visa, Mai was not only pushed into detention, she was also placed on the dreaded Exit Control List (ECL) which means she cannot leave Pakistan, even if she obtains any number of foreign visas. Mai was raped for more than an hour on the orders of Meerwala tribal council in June 2002, in retribution for her brother's alleged affair with a woman of a powerful rival clan. That was a concocted story but Mai, then 32, had to suffer the indignity publicly. But she recovered and vowed to fight back the system. She set up her own NGO and started raising funds for women of her area and she was successful as the world rallied to her support, not just for the undeserved punishment she received but because she had the courage to stand up and fight. For the last 10 days, however, the Government of General Pervez Musharraf has incarcerated Mai in her village home, fearing that she was about to leave for US where she may expose the brutal Pakistani tribal system and "bring a bad name to the country." Mai was earlier stopped from leaving her home when she had received a call from the US Consulate in Lahore to come and collect her US visa. She is scheduled to appear in several events in Houston and other cities this month but authorities are preventing her from obtaining the visa. The spokesperson told South Asia Tribune Mai had no intention to run away from Pakistan as she wanted to stay in her own village and provide the women there the inspiration and courage to fight the system. "They fear that Mai will speak out against the Army and the Government but this is rubbish as she has previously visited three other countries, including Spain and Saudi Arabia, but she never spoke against Pakistan," the spokesperson said. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |
| #17 It's things like this that force me to believe the only "instrument of change" that will actually succeed is brute force applied liberally. It's almost impossible to change a mind that ossified a thousand years ago. In the end, the only solution may be the total disillusion of Islam and the destruction or containment of any followers until they die of old age. Of course, first we'll have to have a "meeting of the minds" with the loonitic liberal left. A nice hickory axehandle across the bridge of the nose in an upsweep works miracles. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2005-06-11 20:17 |
| #16 Utterly Sickning! I can't express my anger, Thank God for the United States, atleast some of us can live fairly but I say f*ck the liberal left, we should be spreading democracy at almost any cost. |
| Posted by: Elmeresing Gravins2750 2005-06-11 17:48 |
| #15 Anybody told Jane Fonda about this? Surely, SHE would take action! |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-06-11 16:41 |
| #14 in retribution for her brother’s alleged affair with a woman of a powerful rival clan. That was a concocted story Damn sure it was concocted. He and his sister were low "caste" muslim, they were high "caste". They raped the 12 year old boy and made up the charges to cover their tracks when they were about to be exposed. The sister was then "judicially" gang raped. |
| Posted by: john 2005-06-11 15:09 |
| #13 Hard call. There's a case to be made the Bush strongarmed Musharraf into helping with the GWOT and continues to do so. Case in point: every time he publicly praises M for helping, it makes it harder for M to go along w/ the Islamacists. Rock and hard place approaching each other. I have mixed feelings about F-16s in Pakistan. OTOH, we have a good track record of building relations with the military in countries where the pols are assholes or worse. Case in point: France, where the military are a lot more pro-US than the general public. We help to keep it that way .... |
| Posted by: too true 2005-06-11 14:30 |
| #12 You know, it's not NOW, Katie Couric, or the NYT's anti-koranic-abuse division that thinks we can sell these guys more F-16's... |
| Posted by: Phil Fraering 2005-06-11 12:48 |
| #11 Katie Al-couric will skip this for the all-important 1 yr 2 mos anniversary of Abu Grahib |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-06-11 12:10 |
| #10 I'm sure the MSM will be all over this. F-cking bastards. Yes I am talking about the MSM. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-06-11 12:04 |
| #9 Not surprised bigjim. Merely disgusted. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-06-11 11:59 |
| #8 Pat, that's one I going to steal! thanks ;) |
| Posted by: Red Dog 2005-06-11 11:51 |
| #7 Of course they're aligning, Big Jim -- they have the same common enemy. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2005-06-11 11:29 |
| #6 You guys who commented before me seem suprised? I have been seeing the liberals align themselves slowly and silently to those mongrel bastards for some time. Playing down all their subhuman acts and decrying any, even the smallest slight against the "religion of peace and love". They are not so far apart in their ideologies, you are entitled to your opinion as long as it is the same as theirs, or god help your poor dumb ass. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2005-06-11 11:10 |
| #5 Do the town councils keep a list of potential rapists? Maybe council rapist is an elected office. I suspect that nepotism may play a role. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2005-06-11 10:54 |
| #4 frankly a pandemic hemmorhagic fever, striking only Pakistani men, might make for some good "Allah Ahkbar" entertainment |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-06-11 10:12 |
| #3 a search of NOW's website for Mukhtar Mai brings, as expected, "no results". How utterly f'ng liberal of them. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-06-11 10:10 |
| #2 How utterly fucking Muslim of them. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-06-11 10:09 |
| #1 ...and in other news, the 'New York Times' has begun it's 25 part series on Koran abuse at Guantanamo Bay. This includes a shocking new revelation that some of the American guards actually used foul language in a room immediately adjacent to the room in which spare Korans were stored. Journalism insiders are quietly predicting yet another Pulitzer prize for the Times. |
| Posted by: Pat Phillips 2005-06-11 09:56 |