Is there anything we can do about this?

[OKNancy]

This is so upsetting to me. I feel so helpless.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=131758&mesg_id=131758


A snip from the article in Editorials:
No wonder the Pakistan government can't catch Osama bin Laden. It is too busy harassing, detaining - and now kidnapping - a gang-rape victim for daring to protest and for planning a visit to the United States.

Last fall I wrote about Mukhtaran Bibi, a woman who was sentenced by a tribal council in Pakistan to be gang-raped because of an infraction supposedly committed by her brother. Four men raped Ms. Mukhtaran, then village leaders forced her to walk home nearly naked in front of a jeering crowd of 300.

Ms. Mukhtaran was supposed to have committed suicide. Instead, with the backing of a local Islamic leader, she fought back and testified against her persecutors. Six were convicted

[atommom]

1. There's contact info to send donations...

Readers of my column sent in more than $133,000 for her. Mercy Corps, a U.S. aid organization, has helped her administer the money, and she has expanded the schools, started a shelter for abused women and bought a van that is used as an ambulance for the area. She has also emerged as a ferocious spokeswoman against honor killings, rapes and acid attacks on women. (If you want to help her, please don't send checks to me but to Mercy Corps, with "Mukhtaran Bibi" in the memo line: 3015 S.W. First, Portland, Ore. 97201.)

But as far as getting her out of government custody, I don't know. What a nightmare. :(

[OKNancy]

3. I guess that sending some money is

all I can do now. I could write my Senators, but that would probably be a waste given who they are ( Inhofe and Coburn)

[lukasahero]

4. Sometimes giving someone the means to address the problems

they face is all we can do. I certainly feel the same frustration as you when reading about things like this. Getting the situation some attention is a start - getting money to her to help her be able to achieve her goals is going to do more for her actually than having our senators (even the good ones) debate this in Congress.

That's the reason I support The Nature Conservancy. They don't argue about how to fix things, if they want to protect some wild land, they buy it. Result? It's protected.

In an ideal world we could do something to stop this situation from occurring in the first place and it's worthwhile to work toward that end, I'm just not sure how we do that.

[FizzFuzz]

2. I want to cry, yet I am also amazed at the strength of this woman.

As women in the US with the ability to help, this woman is deserves our help.

She is taking her unimaginable situation and helping a nation of women.


OK, I gotta run--but I'm making a note to myself to come back here and start a thread, (along with my checkbook)

[Solly Mack]

5. Maybe a letter writing campaign won't help but maybe it will

We could inundate our senators with letters regarding this matter, demanding they help her.

We just keep writing and forcing them not to ignore us.


This makes me ill.

[Senior citizen]

6. This is the response I just got from Equality Now

From: Equality Now www.equalitynow.org
Sent: Jun 14, 2005 1:21 PM

Subject: Re: Mukhtaran Bibi -- Pakistan



Agreed. We have been in touch with the Pakistani Embassy in DC, have left
word at the Consulate in NY and at the Embassy in UK. We are following up
on all of the media reports to verify the information. It is indeed
disgusting, appalling and outrageous!! If you can take the time, you
should write a letter expressing your disgust to the US Ambassador in
DC. If Pakistan's president is so concerned about world opinion, then he
really needs to hear from the rest of the world. You can get the name and
contact info online. At least it is something you can act on right now
when you are feeling the anger.

Thanks very much for writing and we will keep at it until we find out what
is really going on.

Kind regards,
Mandy Sullivan
Director, Women's Action Network

On edit: This is the information I found online for contacting the Pakistani Embassy:

His Excellency Mr. Jehangir Karamat
Embassy of Pakistan
3715 International Court NW
Washington DC 20008

email: [e-mail]



At 12:58 PM 6/14/2005 -0400, you wrote:

>I just read the New York Times article about Mukhtaran Bibi.
>
>Pakistani President Musharraf has released 6 convicted rapists and
>arrested their victim to prevent Mukhtaran Bibi from visiting the U.S.
>
>This is disgusting.
>
>

[lukasahero]

11. Wonderful - thanks for the info! eom

[atommom]

7. Human Rights Watch info for Pakistan -- resources & contact info

They don't have a story on this on their site yet, but I'm contacting them.

http://hrw.org/campaigns/pakistan/

[lukasahero]

12. Excellent! Please let us know if you get a response - thanks.

[Beaverhausen]

8. Lots of info at this link

http://www.4anaa.org/projects/mukhtaran-mai.htm

[Beaverhausen]

9. nominate the thread for greatest page

so more people see the story

[lukasahero]

10. Done and thanks.

[atommom]

13. Pakistan embassy in D.C. -- contact info

http://www.embassyofpakistan.org/keyofficers.php

This blog has some info, and links to State Dept. and the House Committee on International Relations:
http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/002157.html

[Senior citizen]

14. Mukhtaran Bibi now free to travel! Woohoo!

Just got an email from the Feminist Majority Fund newswire. Due to tremendous international pressure the Pakistani government has removed the travel restrictions it had placed on Mukhtaran Bibi.

It also said that human rights activists have been trying for years to get the Pakistani government to strip the tribal councils of their power. (But since the Pakistani president is a friend of Commander Cuckoobananas, he isn't likely to pay much attention to human rights.)

[atommom]

15. Just posted a NYT story about her here:

It appears that the international pressure has had an effect!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=229&topic_id=2556&mesg_id=2556

[Senior citizen]

16. Yes, I spoke too soon.

The Pakistani gov't. did lift the travel restrictions, but then they took Mukhtaran Bibi's passport.

I think we have to keep up the pressure.

[OKNancy]

17. Update

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1589787


This is mercy of the Goddess for sure

A PAKISTANI gang-rape victim won an important victory yesterday when the Supreme Court ordered that 13 men who had been acquitted for their alleged involvement in the crime be rearrested

snip

Six men received death penalties for their alleged roles in the rape after Miss Mai defied local custom and testified against them. Her bravery won international acclaim and the case served to highlight the mistreatment of women in rural Pakistan.

snip
Her legal victory came a day after the Government returned her passport and lifted travel restrictions imposed on her. The case had acquired a political dimension last week when she was stopped from visiting the United States on the instruction of President Musharraf.

snip
“She has been invited to bad-mouth Pakistan,” the President said during a state visit to New Zealand. The administration confiscated Miss Mai’s passport and confined her to Meerwala, her home village in southern Punjab. The Government finally freed her under pressure from Washington. Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, raised Miss Mai’s case with the Pakistani Foreign Minister last week.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1672858,00.ht...

[Senior citizen]

18. There's a thread about this that needs 1 more nomination for greatest.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1589787&mesg_id=1589787

On edit: It just got the 3rd vote. But please don't stop nominating--the more votes, the more people will read it.

[Senior citizen]

19. Too late to edit above.

The thread did make the greatest page, but then it got combined with another thread and taken off. It seems to have been nominated again since then, but once you're nominated you can't do it again, so I hope more people nominate and it gets back to greatest. We don't have too many victories, and there is a post in there from an Islamic viewpoint that is particularly worthwhile, IMO.

[smirkymonkey]

20. What is sad is that her life is probably in greater danger now.

How long before some mullah issues a fatwah?