June 14, 2005	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 6, 1426

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LAHORE, June 13: Mukhtaran Mai paid a short visit to Lahore on Monday and left for Islamabad in the afternoon. She is due to meet Ms Neelofar Bakhtiar, the prime minister’s adviser on women affairs, in the federal capital on Tuesday. Mukhtaran Mai left her village Meerwala, Muzaffargarh district, at around 5am and reached here at 2:30pm by a car. She was escorted by police during her journey to the city for ‘security purpose’. For a few hours, she remained at the Chief Minister’s House where she also had a lunch.

Mukhtaran Mai left for Islamabad along with Ms Neelofar Bakhtiar’s secretary, who had specially come here to ‘escort’ her. A contact with her could not be established to know the purpose of her visit to Lahore as her cellular phone did not respond for hours.

A senior police officer at the Chief Minister’s House told Dawn that Mukhtaran Mai was not in police custody and was a free citizen.

He did not respond to the question if she was under house arrest in her village or if her name had been placed on the exit control list.

The officer did not state why she had been brought to Lahore and taken to the Chief Minister’s House.

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