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Mukhtar’s fight is far from
over. In a move that made headlines across the world,
the Lahore High Court recently overturned the death
sentences against the offenders and allowed them to
go free. The Shariat Court and then the Supreme Court
stepped in and gave their opinions in the form of conflicting
verdicts and ever more confusing sentences, arrest warrants,
and bails for the accused. In the meantime, the government
claimed to have sent thirty policemen to Mukhtar’s
village in the name of protection, but few have actually
taken up their new posts.
And yet, in the face of this opposition,
which is undoubtedly life-threatening, Mukhtar Mai has
never once backed down from her fight for justice, and
something more than justice: enlightenment. She wants
to use the tragedy that happened to her as a way of
educating people. She is not ashamed anymore of the
fact that she was raped in front of a hundred villagers
and walked home by her father in front of the jeering
mobs, proving that a woman can recover from rape or
assault and go on to live a life of dignity and productivity.
She is telling the people of Pakistan that there is
no shame in being the victim of a sex crime of the worst
magnitude. If she succeeds in any of these tasks, she
will have engineered a revolution of the kind that nobody
will be likely to forget: a social revolution in which
women no longer have to play silent prisoners of the
tribal codes and village ways that have kept them in
chains for so long.
The lawyer for the five alleged
rapists, Malik Saleem, has stated to the press that
Mukhtar’s case was “blown out of proportion…
(received) undue attention of national and international
media”. He said, “Not a single case ...
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