ISLAMABAD, 23 June 2005 — Pakistan government has agreed to return passport to gang rape victim, Mukhtaran Mai, who won world acclaim for her pursuit of justice, sources said.
The government has already lifted a controversial ban on Mukhtaran leaving the country. Pakistan had slapped the travel ban on Mukhtaran, prompting fresh international outrage.
Washington said Tuesday Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had secured a personal pledge from Pakistan for Mukhtaran to be allowed to visit the United States.
However Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani yesterday denied for the second time this week that US pressure led to the lifting of the travel ban on Mukhtaran.
“There is absolutely no pressure as far as this particular case is concerned,” Jilani told a briefing when asked if Pakistan had bowed to Washington.
He said he could not comment further on the case and urged the media, rights groups and “entities both local and foreign” to do likewise since Pakistan’s Supreme Court was due to hold a hearing on it later this month.
Mukhtaran, who was raped on the orders of a tribal council in 2002, also disputed President Pervez Musharraf’s earlier contention that she would tarnish the country’s image abroad.
Islamabad was heavily criticized by Washington after refusing to allow the 33-year-old, now a campaigner for women’s issues, to address human rights groups in the United States earlier this month.
Mukhtaran said she received a call on Tuesday from Neelofar Bakhtiar, a top adviser to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on women’s affairs, saying the government wanted to return her passport.
“I told her that I am not in a hurry now to get my passport because I will not be traveling to America since the Supreme Court is taking up my appeal on June 27,” Mukhtaran said.
