ISLAMABAD, March 18: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has assured Mukhtar Mai that the government will take necessary steps to ensure her safety. The prime minister said this during a meeting with Mukhtar Mai at the Prime Minister’s House on Friday. President Pervez Musharraf was also concerned and keeping track of developments in the case, Mr Aziz told her. Ruling party parliamentarians Kashmala Tariq and Riaz Fatiana were present on the occasion. During the meeting, Mukhtar Mai was informed that the four accused who had been acquitted on the orders of Lahore High Court’s Multan Bench had been detained, and the Punjab government had filed an appeal in the Supreme Court. Mr Aziz also assured Mukhtar Mai that justice would prevail and her legal rights would be protected.

The prime minister also said that the government was committed to ensuring that women played their rightful role in society in keeping with religious, social and cultural values.

Appreciating Mukhtar Mai’s efforts for running a school in her village, the prime minister assured her that the government would provide all assistance in this regard.

Nadeem Saeed adds from Multan: The Muzaffargarh police on Friday arrested four main accused of the Mukhtar Bibi gang-rape case under the Maintenance of Public Order.

Faiz Mohammad, Ramzan Pachaar, Allah Ditta and Ghulam Farid were recently acquitted by a bench of the Lahore High Court.

Muzaffargarh District Police Officer Ahsan Mehboob told Dawn that the four accused had been detained under the MPO.

He said orders of their detention had been issued by the provincial home department on an application filed by Mukhtar Bibi, who had demanded detention of the accused till the Supreme Court decided her appeal filed against the acquittal of the accused.

She had expressed concern about the security of her family after the release of the accused. The DPO said that the accused had been detained in Muzaffargarh district jail for three months.

Eight more accused in the same case, who had been acquitted two and a half years ago by the Dera Ghazi Khan Anti-Terrorism Court, were detained earlier this week under the same section of the MPO.