Mukhtaran Bibi Update (from: Tom Watson)
http://tomwatson.typepad.com/tom_watson/2005/06/mukhtaran_bibi_.html
While this is pretty much the story of one courageous woman and a movement of people to support her, I can’t help but to be fascinated by the power of the blogosphere in this saga. Since Tuesday afternoon, we’ve lined up something on the order of 50 blogs supporting Mukhtaran Bibi, who is being held in Pakistan so as not to embarass the corrupt, failed Musharraf government.
And now, I’m getting email updates from inside Pakistan - where, unfortunately, the news is not good. Despite a soothing statement from the U.S. State Department and one from the Pakistani government, Mukhtaran Mai is not free to travel as of this morning. The liberal Pakistani Daily Times reports that although this hero for our times has has been taken off the government’s do not travel list, her passport has been confiscated. Here are the details, and it’s clear that we must continue to press this case. So please. continue to use the email addresses of the Pakistani U.S. embassy staff, please write members of Congress and the President (politely, Fitz and Alva), and by all means, get as many blogs as possible involved in this. Other than Nick Kristoff, this case has been largely ignored by the pontificating piehole class, and that needs to change. From Pakistan:
“I told the prime minister that the government itself should escort her around instead of her getting into the hands of people who might exploit this case and malign Pakistan’s image abroad,” Ahsan told Daily Times. Daily Times sources said that Mai’s Pakistani handler took her to the US embassy and she requested the embassy to return her passport without a visa. Sources said that government authorities seized her passport, saying the government would facilitate Mai if she wished to travel abroad.
Later, Mai spoke to HRCP chairperson Asma Jehangir, and told her that the prime minister called her on the phone and assured her that if she cooperated with the government and handed over her passport, her name would be removed from the ECL. “The prime minister told me that he would personally ensure that I would be able to go to the US in a month,” she was quoted as telling Asma.
Earlier in the National Assembly, Ahsan said the government was violating basic human rights by keeping Mai in custody and not allowing her to meet her lawyer. “It is the basic human right of every Pakistani to appoint a lawyer of his/her choice,” he said. “I am not concerned about her name being on the ECL. I am concerned that she is my client and she is not being allowed to meet me,” he said. He said Mai was also being forced to change her lawyer. “She wanted to meet me in Lahore and then in Islamabad. But she was unable to contact me as Nilofar Bakhtiar did not allow her,” Aitzaz said.
A few housekeeping notes …. I’ll be keeping the list of contributing blogs updated, many links came in over night (updates later today). I’m hoping this network of support can hold together and grow over time. Also, I got a small cultural lesson via email as well. Apparently, my references to "Ms. Bibi" essentially translates to "Miss Miss" in Urdu, thereby injecting some (perhaps much-needed) humor at my expense into this story for the Pakistani community. I’ll try and get it right.