Nicholas Kristof writes about the tragic rape of Dr. Shazia Khalid in Pakistan in a two-part op-ed (1, 2). Kristof has also written about Mukhtar Mai, a courageous village woman who was gang raped on the orders of a village council, but refused to be daunted by her oppressors. Rape - heinous a crime though it is - is not particular to Pakistan. What is particular to Pakistan is the ease with which rapists - the powerful, the cruel, the oppressors - escape punishment for their crime, often with the connivance of local state officials.
The Mai-Khalid cases are far worse because the highest levels of the state are responsible for the ongoing misery of the victims. Dr. Khalid was forced into leaving Pakistan; her violator is allegedly an army official, and in Pakistan, the army is sacrosanct. Mukhtar Mai attracted worldwide attention, and was rewarded for her courage by being placed under virtual house arrest. She was due to travel abroad to speak about her ordeal at a conference. But that would have led to an “image problem” for Pakistan. So her name was put on the exit control list and her passport confiscated.
Such is the state of affairs in Pakistan. The powerful prey on the weak and the state is either uncaring or - infinitely worse - complicit. Meanwhile, the biggest concern for Caesar Musharraf is Pakistan’s “image problem,” not the fact that rapists run amuck while their victims are coerced into silence. If only he devoted a fraction of the time that he spends on the tiresome mantra of enlightened moderation to ensuring that the rule of law was upheld, Pakistan’s image problem would take care of itself.
