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Posts tagged with: Mukhtar Mai

Solidarity with Mukhtar Mai at 4PM today at Karachi Press Club

In wake of the Mukhtar Mai verdict, citizens in collaboration with War Against Rape (WAR), Aurat Foundation (AF), Womens Action Forum (WAF) and other like-minded organizations are holding a press conference on Tuesday April 26th, at the Karachi Press Club at 5pm. Members from the legal fraternity, women’s groups, human rights activists and citizens are coming together to express their solidarity with Mukhtar Mai and discuss the verdict, its repercussions, weaknesses in law and procedures dealing with rape, the disintegration of the criminal justice system and the role of state and non-state actors in furthering it. Please attend.

Date: Tuesday 26th April, 2011
Time: 4 PM
Location: Karachi Press Club

Speakers:

  • Iqbal Haider, Advocate Supreme Court and former Sentaor
  • Anwar Mansoor, President Sindh High Court Bar and former Attorney General, Pakistan
  • Akmal Wasim, Associate Professor of Law, Hamdard School of Law, and former criminal lawyer
  • Sarah Zaman, Director, War Against Rape (WAR)
  • Nuzhat Kidvai– Womens Action Forum (WAF)

Mukhtar Mai being pressured by Federal Minister to drop case

Mukhtar MaiMukhtar Mai is due to appear in the Supreme Court of Pakistan tomorrow on 11th February for a hearing on her outstanding case. Since a few days reports have been emerging that she was under pressure from high level authorities to drop the case, specifically Federal Defence Production Minister Abdul Qayyum Jatoi elected from Muzaffargarh to drop the case and maybe even not appear in court.

Just now members of the Aurat Foundation, a womens rights watch group, have talked to Mukhtar Mai and she in turn has confirmed the reports of high level pressures to have been true. The womens rights groups have urged Mukhtar Mai to stay resolute and proceed to Islamabad for the hearing with full support to be extended to ensure her safety and perusal of the case

Mukhtar Mai is from the village of Meerwala, in the tehsil of Jatoi of the Muzaffargarh District. Mukhtar Mai suffered a gang rape [BBC Timeline] as a form of honour revenge, on the demands of tribesmen on the orders of a panchayat of a local Mastoi Baloch clan that was richer and more powerful than Mukhtaran’s clan, the Gujjar Tatla.