Good thing Musharraf is so moderate. Imagine what he would say if he were an “extremist.”
“Report: Musharraf says rape easy way to Canada,” from Reuters, with thanks to all who sent this in:
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) — Outrage mounted in Pakistan and abroad on Friday over President Pervez Musharraf’s comment that many Pakistanis felt that crying rape was an easy way to make money and move to Canada.
Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin has already condemned the remarks made by Musharraf, who is in the United States having addressed the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday.
London-based rights group Amnesty International said Musharraf should apologize, and newspapers back home decried their leader’s attitude.
Musharraf told the Washington Post in an interview published on Tuesday that Pakistan should not be singled out on rape issues as other countries had the same problems.
“You must understand the environment in Pakistan … This has become a money-making concern. A lot of people say if you want to go abroad and get a visa for Canada or citizenship and be a millionaire, get yourself raped,” the Post quoted Musharraf as saying….
Musharraf, according to media reports, told a news conference in New York on Thursday that he had been expressing a commonly held opinion rather than his own….
Mukhtaran Mai, now an icon for human rights in Pakistan, was gang-raped three years ago on the orders of a village council after her brother, then 12, was judged to have befriended a woman of a powerful clan.
Earlier this year Musharraf blocked Mai from traveling to the United States to attend a women’s rights conference, but later lifted the ban after international criticism including from the U.S. government.
Mai told Reuters she was pained by Musharraf’s comments in the United States.
“Nobody does it intentionally. A large number of women are molested and insulted in the country. How many of them have made money?,” she said. “Such thinking about women is not good.”