This woman, ordered gang raped by her local village council, has been allowed by the Pakistan government to travel after all. “Rape survivor brings fight here,” from the Chicago Sun-Times:
Three years ago, Mukhtar Mai was gang-raped on the order of a village council in her native Pakistan, sparking international outrage when she reported the crime. On Saturday, Mai stopped in Chicago to speak out against the feudal justice system that continues to victimize Pakistani women.
“I am fighting against oppression and cruelty where the rights of poor men and women are violated by landlords and feudals,” Mukhtar said through an interpreter to a crowd of about 60 people at DePaul University. “You and I will get the victory.”
Mukhtar was a 30-year-old Quran teacher in the Pakistani village of Meerwala when she was ordered gang-raped by a tribal council, or jirga, after her 12-year-old brother was seen walking with a girl from a higher-ranking tribe. Mukhtar’s brother also was beaten and sodomized for the offense…
On Nov. 2, Mukhtar will be the recipient of one of 12 “Woman of the Year” awards given by Glamour magazine for work on behalf of women’s rights.
Before she arrives in New York for the award ceremony, Mukhtar is on a cross-country speaking tour to help raise money for her “I can survive” fund, which will help develop a resource center for victims of violence in Pakistan…
Mukhtar, a soft-spoken woman who could not read or write when she was attacked, stressed that tribal councils that sanction rape and murder do not act in accordance with Islam.
“Where does it say in Islam that you should violate women? Our Islam does not allow this, absolutely not,” Mukhtar said, through her host and translator, Dr. Amna Buttar…
A Qur’an teacher who is unable to read or write, no doubt because she is female, speaks authoritatively what is in the Qur’an, informing us that the circumstances in which she finds herself have nothing to do with Islamic law. Of course, if Islam were just applied more perfectly, social harmony would be the natural result…(yes, that’s sarcasm).