MULTAN:
Mukhtaran Mai has said she has been facing death threats recently, and that her female students and fellow teachers have been facing the same threats Malala Yousafzai faced before her attack.
Mukhtaran Mai disclosed the information during a press conference at Muzaffargarh district press club on Friday.
She said that just four days earlier, her senior teachers had been attacked by militants. Because they could not find Mai, they just attacked the building and destroyed the rooms and windows instead, she said.
“I have been voluntarily operating in Meerwala which is a vocational institute,”said Mai. “My teachers and I have been continuously receiving death threats to close the school to female students of the area and the vocational institute. They have accused me of spreading vulgarity and prostitution in society,” she said.
She also revealed that the percentage of female students who were initially encouraged by her efforts since 2002 have since dropped by half in the last two years. She blamed the decrease on threats. Mai said female students and their families have been receiving death threats from militants and extremists residing in the area.
She said the Mukhtaran Mai Girls High School and Vocational Institute currently has 700 female students enrolled. Saluting the efforts of Malala Yousafzai, Mukhtaran Mai vowed that she will continue to fight for the rights of women and against discrimination, and will continue to fight all threats she faces. She blamed local police for failing to provide security despite being informed of the situation.
Earlier, police officials had ordered a police check post for the security of Mukhtaran Mai’s school in 2002, at which time 18 police personnel remained on hand all the time for the school’s security. A total of 36 personnel were deployed in different shifts. That force has now been reduced to just three security personnel for 24 hours.
However, according to Mukhtaran Mai, there is currently no security available and anyone can verify her statement by visiting the area.
Mai has also been running a women’s crisis centre in the same area which is near closure due to lack of funds. She has pleaded for a grant to keep it open as well as security for the centre.
Mukhtaran Mai blamed Zeeshan Asghar, DPO Muzaffarhgarh, for failing to provide security to the female residents and students of the area. She also informed the media that she had informed DPO Asghar about the all the threats to her life and threats to her staff, but she received no response.
The DPO was unavailable for the comment till the filing of this story.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 13th, 2012.
COMMENTS (9)
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@Baba Ji: Imagine if she is your sister, would you still have commented like this?
i watched documentary that showed the other side story not the story we heard from mukhtara mai. n tht made me 100% convinced tht she wsn't raped. in the documentary thy mentioned tht forensic report said tht there were no evidence or sign of a rape. plus mukhtara mai was glorified by our media before it was proved.
@khurram & affaq Where is the evidence for your assertion that MM is a fraudster? It's pretty pathetic to accuse this lady of "draining the image of Pakistan. " It's the extremist ,uneducated,Mullah-driven , male dominated, feudal culture of Pakistani society that IS anti-Islam and has done all it can to destroy the "image of Pakistan" not her.The Pakistan that Quaid-e-Azam and like minded people struggled for.He envisioned a, just ,balanced ,progressive,enlightened, tolerant society where people of all faiths could coexist peaceably,their rights protected.A country where women enjoyed the same freedoms as men to choose their own path and achieve their potential as and were protected and treated with respect .Can you say that of Pakistan? In this so called Islamic country women are abused just as Mukhtaran Mai was on a frequent basis and the laws are useless in preventing this. It is virtually impossible for a women to travel freely ,work or live in Pakistan independently without being harassed . That's the image the outside world sees that for the majority of Pakistanis, oppression,poverty and backwardness is rife-and for that MM is not responsible. She is one Pakistani who is trying to challenge this crippling culture and provide education and development.She's doing the job of the goverment! Iif they are people ,hangars on ,chamchas who are trying to cash in on the publicity she has generated or siphon off funds ,then its them that are at fault .They should be identified and held to account.What are other Pakistanis (the silent masses) themselves doing about the "image"of Pakistan?What they did on ishq -e -rasool day didn't impress anyone.More death and destruction .Why doesn't anyone condemn the people who deserve to be condemned?
Has she not been proven by our courts to be a fraudster? She should be in jail for ruining Pakistans image for starters. Not to mention getting innocent people jailed.
Taleban wants to turn Pakistan into another Afghanistan. All the people supporting the likes of taleban should see what had become of Afghanistan under their holy rule.
Babaji
Where did you expect her to go. Yours is a very bad reaction- as if she was a cockroach and should have been exterminated.
She is one of the biggest fraudsters around. Look at her lavish life style and her entourage of Land cruisers and everything will be clearer. Kindly dont highlight such ladies that are getting money by making a fool out of Europeans. Do you know Mukhtaran Mai married his own Guard who had the first wife as well and so called Women Rights champion had already set an example that how families are destroyed actually and how one woman and money can took the right of any other woman. Also her Brothers are local Political figtures and they are as cruel as any other Wadairas and it is my request to the West to stop giving her aid or importance to Mukhtaran Mai.
every government,s high authorities , require an hot issue to hide back all current crises. like gas , petro , and electricity,s rising prices. and in current day tghey have gain all . in malala case. bit , not fair , there are hunderds of malala , dying of drones why they are not listned . why there is dubling , if they are not Pakistanis.? let the malala dye . and save the other hunderds , waiting ya help..in north wazirstan south wazirstan by drones .... shame on u
Oh is she still around ? we totally forgot about her !!!!