June 23, 2007	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 07, 1428

LAHORE, June 22: Former federal minister for tourism Nilofar Bakhtiar has said three countries had offered her asylum after she received threats.

Speaking at the Lahore Press Club here on Friday, she claimed that she had resigned as minister because she always fought for the rights of women but could not win the war of her own rights.

She said the government was not ready to accept her resignation, but it did not support her when she needed the most from it.

She said she would not fight for the rights of the people in five-star hotels or at seminars, but in the field. She would fight against extremism in Pakistan as well.

Nilofar said President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s move to strengthen women lacked in some areas and still required improvement. The president wanted to empower women, but he was “under certain pressures”. In her case, she said, the parliamentarians should have supported her.

The ex-minister said she had already served a legal notice on Lal Masjid clerics.