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NEW YORK/ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Pakistan`s National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), Insani Huqooq Ittehad (IHI) comprising 10 NGOs and other women and human rights organisation have expressed “deep shock” and “disappointment” at the Supreme Court verdict acquitting the accused who had raped Mukhtar Mai about nine years ago. “This is a setback for Mukhtar Mai, the broader struggle to end violence against women and the cause of an independent rights-respecting judiciary in Pakistan,” the HRW said in a statement and urged the government to ensure her safety. It said that any argument...

Infidel; Murder In Amsterdam; In The Name of Honour; Shame EmailPrintNormal fontLarge font Paul SheehanFebruary 17, 2007 Three books by three women describe the violent suppression affecting the lives of hundreds of millions of women. Ayaan Hirsi Ali AuthorAyaan Hirsi Ali; Ian Buruma; Mukhtar Mai; Jasvinder SangheraGenreSociety/Politics, FictionPublisherFree Press; Atlantic Books; Virago; Hodder Stoughton WE ARE TOLD we are living through a clash of civilisations, a clash between militant Islam and the infidels.This is only the surface tension. There is a clash of civilisations, but the deeper cause is not religion. It is sex. A great cultural struggle is being...

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Mukhtar Mai, the daughter of a Pakistani farmer, thought she was apologizing for the misdeeds of her brother. Instead, she was gang raped by men in her village. After the rape, Mai contemplated suicide. Today she is likened to Martin Luther King, Jr...

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 20 - Mukhtar Mai, the Pakistani woman whose defiant response to being gang-raped by order of a tribal court brought her worldwide attention, was denied a chance to speak at the United Nations on Friday after Pakistan protested that it was the same day the country's prime minister was visiting. Ms. Mai had long been scheduled to make an appearance called "An Interview With Mukhtar Mai: The Bravest Woman on Earth" in the United Nations television studios, sponsored by the office for nongovernmental organizations, the Virtue Foundation and the Asian-American Network Against Abuse of Human Rights. But...

NEW YORK (US): An unknown-turned-globally fêted Mukhtar Mai arrives New York, expectantly by tonight Sunday to receive the ‘Woman of the Year’ award from Glamour magazine, amid a galaxy of people, including intellectuals as well as many others, hailing from diverse segments of society in America. Once, a docile inhabitant of a remote village in southern Punjab province of Pakistan clutched a worldwide repute, in a spur of moment, when her story of gang-rape hit the headlines of the media, not only in Pakistan but the world-over. The print and electronic media raced with a swift pace to disseminate the...

Mukhtar Mai, the Pakistani woman who won international fame for speaking out against her gang rape ordered by a village council in her country, is in the US to receive an award for courage from American fashion magazine Glamour, which has chosen her the 'Woman of the Year 2005'. Mai, who arrived in Chicago on Saturday and would attend several function there to raise funds for the earthquake victims in Pakistan, would be presented the award at a star-studded function in New York on November 2. The magazine has selected her 'Woman of the Year 2005', an honour bestowed in...

Last week, Pakistan's Federal Shariat Court—the nation's highest Islamic court—vacated an appeals court decision that had outraged the world. In essence, the appeals court had acquitted five of the six men convicted in the 2002 "honor rape" of Mukhtar Mai. Her ongoing story may well foreshadow the future of Muslim women who suffer under tribal law and other oppressive traditions. Hers is a savage tale of brutalization and courage, with confusing twists and a resolution that is uncertain. But it is a story of hope, which provides reason for optimism. In it, the West provides an invaluable voice of conscience...