Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Another Example of What We Are Up Against
In June 2002, the police say, members of a high-status tribe sexually abused one of Ms. Mukhtaran's brothers and then covered up their crime by falsely accusing him of having an affair with a high-status woman. The village's tribal council determined that the suitable punishment for the supposed affair was for high-status men to rape one of the boy's sisters, so the council sentenced Ms. Mukhtaran to be gang-raped.
She was supposed to kill herself. Raped women are damaged goods and have no place in this culture, even when it's nothing they've done.
Instead, she held on, testified, was given police protection, was awarded money which she used to open a school for girls and a school for boys.
The money is running out, and the police have to be paid, and she and her family may be killed by the other family once the police leave. Yet, she is a light of goodness in a dark situation.
It's also another example of a mindset that we are dealing with. Rape as a judicial sentence.
We need leaders who understand that this is not something you solve by going to the UN and wringing your hands.
