Pakistan has created a public relations disaster, said Farooq Hassan in the Islamabad Nation. American newspapers are full of 'œscathing' denunciations of Pakistan's persecution of a gang-rape victim. As all Pakistanis know by now, three years ago, a tribal council ordered that Mukhtaran Mai be raped by four men to punish her family for a brother's crime. Instead of retreating in shame, Mai bravely testified against the men and got them sentenced to prison. Last month, she planned to travel to the U.S. to speak about her struggle. But the government of Gen. Pervez Musharraf tried to silence her, to avoid embarrassing Pakistan. She was put under house arrest, her passport confiscated, and her attackers released from prison. The U.S. press promptly took up her cause. Columnist Nicholas D. Kristof of The New York Times led the effort to demand her release, and the international uproar forced Musharraf to reverse course and let Mai go. The affair has 'œdisgraced Pakistan' and exposed the 'œthuggish behavior' of the generals who rule us.
The American media only showed one side of the story, said Kunwar Idris in the Karachi Dawn. The High Court freed the alleged attackers after weighing the evidence and concluding the men had been unjustly jailed. The court found that Mai was raped by 'œone man, and not by a gang of men,' and further, that the rape was not ordered by the village council. In fact, it was a piece of personal retribution committed in defiance of the council. Of course, the crime was terrible, and, of course, Musharraf should not have prevented Mai from going to America. But the government's 'œill-conceived and unlawful action' doesn't give the press license to 'œdisregard the facts established through judicial scrutiny.'
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