Yesterday I
diaried about Mukhtaran Mai, who was the victim of a tribal council ordered gang-rape in 2002, and has become a courageous spokesperson on the plight of women in rural Pakistan, where honor killings and gang-rapes are common.
After keeping Ms Mai under "virtual house arrest", today the Pakistan government announced that Ms Mai is "free to go anywhere."
From
Reuters:
"On the instruction of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the name of Mukhtaran Mai has been removed from the ECL," Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sharpao told parliament, referring to an exit control list that prevents overseas travel.
"She is free to go anywhere. She can go wherever she wants," he said.
Mai's case provoked national outcry and focused international attention on the treatment of women in rural Pakistan. Human rights workers had wanted Mai to go abroad to speak on the plight of women in her country.
Aziz said last week any security measures were protective as Mai had expressed fears for her safety.
President Pervez Musharraf, who has been trying to project Pakistan as a moderate and progressive Muslim nation, has taken a personal interest in the case, saying it was tarnishing the country's image overseas.
But with her passport confiscated, the statement rings hollow:
But Ms Mai has told the BBC that because her passport has been confiscated, the move is meaningless.
The ban has prevented Ms Mai from taking up an invitation from human rights group Amnesty International to travel to the United States.
Officials had said she had to stay in Pakistan until court cases around the rape were resolved.
But critics said the move was a ploy intended to protect Pakistan's international image.
Yesterday, based on Nicholas Kristof's column, my diary conveyed an intention by the Pakistan government to intimidate Ms. Mai by releasing the 12 rapists.
The truth appears to be more complicated.
The BBC report suggests that President Pervez Musharraf' government is on one hand contesting the court decision to overturn the rapists conviction, while at the same time taking measures to restrict Ms Mai's access to the international media in order to protect his and Pakistan's image.
Only when the global outcry (but of course, not from the Bush regime) on behalf of Bibi began to affect did Musharraf's PR calculations begin to tilt the other direction.