Mukhtar Mai

The Pakistan Foreign Office has directed the Interior Ministry to take effective steps to stop Mukhtar Mai, the victim of Meerawala gang-rape, from proceeding to the United States, official sources have disclosed.

The government had already placed Mukhtar Mai on Exit Control List (ECL) on June 4, fearing that she might malign Pakistans image during her stay in the US.

In line with the fresh move by the government, the immigration authorities at all the airports in Pakistan have been alerted to prevent Mukhtar Mai from leaving the country.

Meanwhile, the opposition in the Senate has protested what it called the administrations mishandling of the Mukhtar Mai case putting her name on the ECL to prevent her from proceeding abroad on the invitation of Amnesty International, releasing the accused in the gang-rape and keeping her under semi-house arrest.

A review board of the Lahore High Court (LHC) has ordered release of a dozen men detained in connection with the gang-rape.

Leader of opposition Mian Raza Rabbani raised the issue on a point of order, seeking a clarification from the government whether reports of Mukhtar Mais name being put on ECL and her house being guarded by heavy police to keep watch on her movement were correct.

Minister of State for Interior Dr Shahzad Wasim replied that the government was determined to provide Mukhtar Mai full justice. Keeping her name on the ECL was for the reason that we want her case to be processed and resolved first.

The past experience in such cases, he added, was that whenever a claimant left the country, his/her case was never resolved. He claimed that the action had been taken sometime ago which definitely had no link with her leaving the country on AIs invitation.

Dr Wasim denied reports of her house arrest, saying a security cover had been provided to her on her own request and on the demand of civil society. He said the accused in the rape case were detained on the order of prime minister for three months under the Maintenance of Public Order law and they were released by the LHC review board on completion of the detention period.

The minister alleged that some NGOs were giving a wrong twist to the issue to advance their own interests.

However, Senator Rabbani contested this claim, saying that if Mai could be put on ECL, why the culprits involved in the case were not treated the same way and why were they released by the LHC review board working under the influence of the Punjab government.

The opposition senator said Mukhtar was not being allowed to go abroad for fear that efforts of showing the countrys soft face to the world might get hurt.

Meanwhile, Adviser to Prime Minister Nilofar Bakhtiar said the government would use all avenues to provide justice to Mukhtar Mai. Our legal experts are viewing the case and planning to file another suit in the higher court, she said.

All the 12 accused in the Mukhtar Mai case were freed by the Lahore High Court on Friday.

Nilofar Bakhtiar said the government was keen to provide justice to the victim of gender-based violence and had backed Mukhtar Mai all along and would do so in the future as well.

The Ministry of Women Development sent a team to Meerwala Jatoi last week to establish a crisis centre for women there, she said, adding that the centre would be named Mukhtar Mai Crisis Centre and funded by the prime minister.

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