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WASHINGTON, June 15:The Pakistan embassy said on Wednesday that the government had not stopped Mukhtaran Mai from travelling abroad and she had postponed her trips due to her mother’s illness. The embassy’s clarification came hours after US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Christina Rocca told a congressional hearing in Washington that her country was ‘dismayed’ at the ill-treatment meted out to Mukhtaran Mai in Pakistan, and that the matter would be pursued duly.
A spokesperson for the Pakistan embassy pointed out that Mukhtaran Mai was free to go anywhere she wished to and that at a news conference in Islamabad she had made it clear that she was not going to the US due to the illness of her mother and that she would go to America in near future.
The spokesperson said President Musharraf had held out assurance that all possible efforts would be done to ensure justice in her case.
She said the inclusion of Mukhtaran Mai’s name on the exit control list was a misunderstanding and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had ordered an inquiry into the matter.
Earlier, Ms Rocca told the House Sub-committee on Asia and the Pacific that while the US embassy in Islamabad was able to contact Mukhtaran’s friends, it could not reach out to the victim.
“We are dismayed at the treatment being meted out to a courageous woman, Mukhtaran Mai, who is herself a victim of a horrendous crime and is being denied the right to travel and to tell her story. We will pursue this matter during the course of the day,” Ms Rocca said.
HR BODY: Meanwhile, the Asian-American Network against Abuse of Human Rights, a group consisting of concerned Pakistanis, has expressed ‘outrage’ at the house arrest and ‘abduction’ of the beleaguered woman by authorities.
At a Tuesday night news conference, the group pledged to continue its efforts to bring Mukhtaran Mai to the US so that she could tell her story before a larger audience.
They disagreed with the suggestion that such exposure gave bad name to Pakistan and insisted that by exposing such ill deeds, they were hoping to prevent such incidents in future.
Masood Haider adds from New York: In an editorial on Wednesday, the New York Times has chastised the Pakistan government for not allowing Mukhtaran Mai from visiting the United States and other countries.
The decision not to allow Mukhtaran Mai to go abroad has damaged country’s image more profoundly than any perceived damage it could have done to country’s image if she had been allowed to travel.
“Her guts in daring to oppose the feudalistic elements of rural Pakistani society earned her invitations from all over the world, including from the Asian-American Network Against Abuse of Women, which asked her to visit the United States this Saturday. However, before she could get here, General Musharraf’s government arrested her. Pakistan also released her attackers, who had been in prison since they were convicted of raping her,” the newspaper observed.
It said: “It makes no sense for the United States to accept the kind of behaviour from friends that it would not tolerate from enemies.”
It underscored that “being allies with Pakistan should go beyond just selling F-16 fighter jets to General Musharraf in the hope that he will one day get serious about finding Osama bin Laden and stop allowing recruiters for the Taliban to operate in Pakistan. It should also include pressing Pakistan to adopt minimum standards of human rights.”
