The NYT headline reads: “Heeding Pakistani Protest, U.N. Blocks Talk by Rape Victim.”
The story says that “Mukhtar Mai, the Pakistani woman whose defiant response to being gang-raped by order of a tribal court brought her worldwide attention, was denied a chance to speak at the United Nations on Friday after Pakistan protested that it was the same day the country’s prime minister was visiting.
“Ms. Mai had long been scheduled,” continues the NYT story, “to make an appearance called ‘An Interview With Mukhtar Mai: The Bravest Woman on Earth’ in the United Nations television studios, sponsored by the office for nongovernmental organizations, the Virtue Foundation and the Asian-American Network Against Abuse of Human Rights.”
Ms. Mai has been named by Time magazine as one of “Asia’s heroes” (that story is below the fold)
As WebIndia123 puts it sarcastically, “Aziz ensures Mai doesn’t steal his UN thunder.” And it notes that “[i]ncidentally, Mai’s visit to the UN was planned much before Aziz’s visit to the world body. (ANI).”
The NYT story notes that “[t]his was not the first time that Pakistan’s government had interfered in Ms. Mai’s travels. President Pervez Musharraf blocked her from taking a trip to the United States in June and then relented last fall when Glamour magazine honored her as its “Woman of the Year.”
And you’ll all surely recall the grossly insensitive, chauvinistic remarks of President Pervez Musharraf who, according to BBC,
“said that rape was a ‘money-making concern’:
“You must understand the environment in Pakistan. This has become a money-making concern,” he said.
“A lot of people say if you want to go abroad and get a visa for Canada or citizenship and be a millionaire, get yourself raped.”
Outrageously, at the time, the U.S. State Dept. chose to remain “neutral” on Musharraf’s remarks.
Below, Ms. Mai’s story as told by Time:
t is a measure of just how terrible what happened to Mukhtar Mai was that news of the attack on her sent shock waves across Pakistan, where sexual assault and violence against women is commonplace. Mai, a 30-year-old woman who lives in the remote hamlet of Meerwala, was brutally and publicly gang-raped in June 2002 by four volunteers on the orders of a village court, or jirga. Mai’s then 12-year-old brother Abdul Shakoor (pictured behind her) had been seen walking with a girl from the more influential Mastoi tribe; they demanded Mai’s rape to avenge their “honor.” Mai’s family sat helplessly while she was dragged into a room, even as she screamed and pleaded for mercy. To further humiliate her, and make an example of those who would defy the power of local strongmen, she was paraded naked before hundreds of onlookers. Her father covered her with a shawl and walked her home.
Mai’s case is hardly unique in Pakistan. During the first seven months of 2004, according to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, at least 151 Pakistani women were gang-raped and 176 were killed in the name of honor. The vast majority of perpetrators go unpunished. Yet Mai refused to remain silent. She said she would rather “die at the hands of such animals” than “give up her right to justice” and pursued her case despite the threat of further violence. Against the odds, she won. Six men involved in her rape have been punished, with two of them sentenced to death (although Pakistani human-rights groups and I oppose the death penalty), and the government awarded her compensation. Mai has used the money to open a school in her village so that the force of education can wash away this crime perpetuated in the name of tradition.
As long as the state refuses to fully challenge the brutality of tribal law, the plight of Pakistani women will continue. Mukhtar Mai is a symbol of their victimhood, but in her resilience she is also a symbol of their strength. (Time Asia, which also includes remarkable photographs)