Musharraf chastised for remarks blaming rape victims
Pakistanis believe crying rape helps women get to Canada: President
ISLAMABAD • Outrage mounted in Pakistan and abroad yesterday over President Pervez Musharraf ’ s comment that many Pakistanis felt crying rape was an easy way to make money and move to Canada.
Prime Minister Paul Martin has already condemned the remarks made by General Musharraf, who was in the United States to attend the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly.
London-based rights group Amnesty International said Gen. Musharraf should apologize, and newspapers back home decried their leader’s attitude.
In an interview published on Tuesday, Gen. Musharraf told The Washington Post
Pakistan should not be singled out on rape issues as other countries had the same problems.
“ You must understand the environment in Pakistan.… This has become a money-making concern,” he said.
“ A lot of people say if you want to go abroad and get a visa for Canada or citizenship and be a millionaire, get yourself raped.”
This is believed to be a reference to the case of Dr. Shazia Khalid, who was raped while working at a hospital in Baluchistan. The rape triggered a tribal revolt in the remote border region where it was seen as a breach of honour.
Dr Khalid, 32, was forced to flee to London with her husband in fear of her life and applied to emigrate to Canada.
Dawn, Pakistan’s leading Englishdaily, rounded on Gen. Musharraf in an editorial headlined “Wrong thing to say.”
“If this attitude, of blaming rape and other crimes against women on women themselves and ridiculing [non-government organizations] that take up such issues, begins to travel upward from ignorant mullahs and male chauvinists to permeate the higher echelons of the administration, then God help us,” it said.
Amnesty International said it was outraged at the remarks by Gen. Musharraf, who is due to address an audience of PakistaniAmerican women in New York today.
“ This callous and insulting statement requires a public apology from President Musharraf to the women of Pakistan and especially to victims of rape, sexual assault and other forms of violence that are rampant with impunity in Pakistan,” the group said in a statement.
“His statement is an offence to women all over the world.”
According to media reports, Gen. Musharraf told a news conference in New York on Thursday he had been expressing a commonly held opinion rather than his own.
Earlier, Mr. Martin said he had raised the matter with the Pakistani leader during a meeting on the sidelines of the General Assembly.
“I stated unequivocally that comments such as that are not acceptable and that violence against women is also a blight that besmirches all humanity,” Mr. Martin told a news conference.
Rape is prevalent particularly in rural areas of Pakistan, but local media have recently become more active in following up stories since a notorious gang rape generated massive publicity at home and abroad when the victim spoke out about her ordeal.
Mukhtaran Mai, now an icon for human rights in Pakistan, was gang-raped three years ago on the orders of a village council after her brother, then 12, was judged to have befriended a woman of a powerful clan.
Earlier this year, Gen. Musharraf blocked Ms. Mai from travelling to the United States to attend a women’s rights conference, but later lifted the ban after international criticism, including from the U.S. government.
Ms. Mai said she was pained by Gen. Musharraf’s comments in the United States.
“Nobody does it intentionally. A large number of women are molested and insulted in the country. How many of them have made money?” she said.
“Such thinking about women is not good.”