ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistanâs president said on Wednesday that the victim in a high-profile rape case is free to go anywhere, and defended his earlier decision to ban her from traveling abroad. âLet me make it absolutely clear that Mukhtar Mai is free to go wherever she pleases, meet whomever she wants and say whatever she pleases. I have full faith in her and in her patriotism,â Gen. Pervez Musharraf said in a message on his Web site.| "Not that her life expectancy is much better than mine," he noted. |
Musharraf had banned Mai from traveling to America earlier this month. During a tour in New Zealand, he said he did not want Pakistanâs bad image projected abroad. On his Web site, Musharraf defended his decision again. âI have already publicly stated that I took the decision to stop her from going to the US myself. I took this decision in the best national interest of Pakistan because I truly believed that the invitation would have tarnished Pakistanâs international image rather than help improve the lot of women folk in Pakistan or elsewhere in the world,â he said.
âI believe there was a strong ulterior intent of maligning Pakistan by vested interests, rather than sincerely helping Mai out,â he said but did not identify the âvested interests.â
| Vested interests. Nefarious vested interests. Sinister, nefarious vested interests. |