'Temporary ban on Mukhtaran Mai's Visit abroad'
By Maria A Khan - Pakistan Times Staff Correspondent

ISLAMABAD: Advisor to Prime Minister on Women Affairs Nilofer Bakhtiar has said that the government had imposed a temporary ban on foreign tour of gang-rape victim Mukhtaran Mai fearing that some NGOs might use this issue to damage country’s image abroad.

Some officials have admitted that the decision of putting Mukhtaran Mai on ECL and the way the decision was defended made the country target of unnecessary and strong international criticism.

As General Pervez Musharraf was on important foreign visits to Australia and New Zealand, he had to explain Mukhtaran Mai’s issue before the media of the host countries.

No Ban

On the other hand, Nilofer Bakhtiar said that there was no ban on Mukhtaran Mai and she could take her passport back if she wants to.

Talking to the VOA, she said that Mai was a free citizen of the country and a symbol of women empowerment. ‘We view her with respect,’ she stated.

She disclosed that a team would visit Meerwala on June 30, so that work on the project, named after her, Women Crisis Centre, could be started.

Talking to the VOA by telephone from Meerwala, Mukhtaran Mai said that the passport was still with the officials concerned, who had told her that after some days they would return it to her.

‘Pakistan is for all, Pervez Musharraf, for me and for all. As Pervez Musharraf cannot talk against Pakistan, how can we do that. Pakistan is for us’, she observed.

Nilofer Bakhtiar said that some NGOs had been trying to use Mukhtaran Mai’s case for personal gains and they intended to defame Pakistan.

No US Pressure

Meanwhile, Pakistan on Monday denied it had caved into pressure from the United States over the treatment of Mukhtaran Mai, the victim of a notorious gang rape whose pursuit of justice won world acclaim.

Mai, who was raped on the orders of a tribal council in 2002, was barred from leaving the country earlier this month while her alleged attackers were freed from jail, prompting international outrage.

“There is absolutely no pressure as far as this particular case is concerned,” foreign ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani told a weekly briefing when asked if Pakistan had bowed to Washington.

He said he could not comment further on the case and urged the media, rights groups and “entities both local and foreign” to do likewise since Pakistan’s Supreme Court was due to hold a hearing on it later this month.

After her rape, allegedly as punishment for her brother’s affair with a woman from a powerful rival clan in the remote town of Meerwala, 33-year-old Mai defied threats and local customs to testify against the suspects.

In August 2002 six men were sentenced to death. But this March, another court overturned five of the convictions and reduced the death sentence of the sixth to life in prison.

Twelve men were then rearrested on the Prime Minister’s orders but were freed on June 10.

Pakistan admitted it had banned Mai from leaving the country after she was invited by Amnesty International to meet US congressional leaders and administration officials to discuss abuses against women in South Asia.

It lifted the ban last Wednesday.

“There are absolutely no curbs on her movement. She is free to travel anywhere, any time of her choosing. She is a victim, the sympathies of the government are always with the victim,” Jilani said.

Mai said last week that she would like to visit other countries but would not try to settle abroad.●