Blogs to the Rescue

In less than 24 48 72 hours four days, you've mobilized a small army on behalf of Mukhtaran Bibi, my personal hero and a symbol of courage to many millions. I'll continue to update the main post below, but I wanted to comment briefly on the speed and effectiveness of the small corner of the media world that connects to this tiny Weblog.

It's incredibly powerful, and I'm not sure I realized that until this morning. Since last night you (and yes, it's you, not me) have gotten links and coverage on more than 30 40 65 80 100 blogs. We can do more; we can get it into the talking head slipstream, and onto some larger blogs and sites. So please, take this story and run with it - to me, the outcome of Mukhtaran Bibi's story says everything about what we really believe about freedom.

And please read the blogs of these terrific colleagues, who are getting out in front on the compelling Bibi story:

• CommonSenseDesk [here and here and here]
• The Sawpit [here]
• Trickster! [here]
• Killing Time Bein' Lazy [here]
• KnowProse [here]
• J.D. Lasica [here]
• Republic of Dogs [here]
• Majikthise [here]
• theheretik [here]
• Balloon Juice [here]
• Bowblog [here]
• The News Blog [here]
• The River [here]
• Lance Mannion [here]
• Hootsbuddy [here]
• Ezra Klein [here]
• The Ethical Werewolf [here]
• Pacificus [here and here]
• battlepanda [here]
• Brilliant at Breakfast [here]
• The One True Tami [here]
• MarteyDodoo [here]
• Rhodian Attic [here]
• Random Ravings [here]
• Habakkuk's Watchpost [here]
• Athena [here]
• Stygius [here and here and here and here]
• Preposterous Universe [here]
• perfect.co.uk [here]
• UK Political Blog [here]
• This Space for Rent [here]
• Echidne of the Snakes [here]
• PragueWriter [here]
• Kim's Blog [here]
• Gung Ho! [here]
• Cate McQuaid [here]
• One single child left behind [here]
• Hairmonster Times [here]
• No Right Turn [here]
• Catch.com [here]
• Joe Schulz [here]
• Taran [here]
• Eastway to the World [here]
• BlogJosh [here]
• Preemptive Karma [here]
• Off Road Pakistan [here]
• The Moderate Voice [here]
• Byzantium Shores [here]
• Musical Perceptions [here]
• TPMCafe [here]
• James Wolcott [here]
• The Modulator [here]
• Relentlessly Optimistic [here]
• Indigo Jo Blogs [here]
• Shakespeare's Sister [here]
• The Glasshouse [here]
• PuddingTime! [here]
• Suffolk Punch [here]
• Daily Kos [here]
• After-Party [here]
• Buzz Machine [here]
• Have Coffee Will Write [here]
• The Tattered Coat [here]
• Huffington Post [here]
• I Blame the Patriarchy [here and here]
• Big Brass Blog [here]
• Grab the Mic [here]
• Emerging Sideways [here]
• Kitty Killer [here]
• Finding Neverland [here]
• Finding My Voice [here]
• suhitanantula [here]
• eAsylum [here]
• The Agonist [here]
• Dexter's Lab [here]
• The New Homemaker [here]
• Sunni Sister [here]
• Izzy Mo's blog [here]
• Profits and Prophets [here]
• POV [here]
• Blogtastrophy [here]
• The Magic Tongue [here]
• The Ruth Group [here]
• Broadsheet [here]
• HeraldBlog [here]
• IslamiCity [here]
• BayouBuzz [here]
• MisterBryans [here]
• Cheap Holiday [here]
• dangerousmeta! [here]
• Nomadic behaviour [here]
• Magic tongue [here]
• Liberalogy [here]
• Nye [here]
• Just One Minute [here]
• I Am Chainsaw [here]
• Vegacura [here]
• Fragments [here]
• KTemoc Konsiders [here]
• Der Sturm in meinem Kopf [here]
• A VC [here]
• Moderates Revenge [here]
• Scoble [here]
• Missouri Liberal [here]
• Michael Parekh [here]
• Mystery of the Haunted Vampire [here]
• Panhandle Grassroots for Democracy [here]
• West Indies Cricket Blog [here]
• The Acorn [here]
• 100 Monkeys Typing [here]
• The Newest Industry [here]
• Double Flee A [here]
• Crooks and Liars [here]
• 3 Quarks Daily [here]
• Feministing [here]
• ZepFanMan [here]
• Menstruating She-Devils [here]
• Body and Soul [here]
• Fog Walking [here]
• War and Piece [here]
• Magic Tongue [here]
• Gadflyer [here]

Still coming.... after 5 days! .... I will attempt to keep udating this list; if you want to be listed, just drop me a note. Somehow I think it's going to be a valuable corps of bloggers going forward...

UPDATE: This just in: the Pakistani government says Ms. Bibi has been released! Let's hope this is true and she can complete her travel plans. I know that many, many people used the email addresses posted here and on the other sites - it made a difference, folks: shining a light sometimes can. But please keep blogging this story, now and in the future. Early details from Reuters:

A Pakistani gang rape victim, whose case has been highlighted by international media, has been removed from a list of people barred from travelling abroad, the government said on Wednesday.

Mukhtaran Mai, who was gang raped on the orders of a traditional village council in 2002, had demanded that the government lift restrictions on her movements.

"On the instruction of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the name of Mukhtaran Mai has been removed from the ECL," Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sharpao told parliament, referring to an exit control list that prevents overseas travel.

"She is free to go anywhere. She can go wherever she wants," he said.

NOT SO FAST: Scary stuff from Kristof on his bulletin board and evidence we need to keep the pressure on, till Ms. Bibi is on the plane:

The Mukhtaran Bibi case is still foggy, because she is still being detained by the authorities and denied permission to telephone her friends freely. But the government does seem to be caving.

On Tuesday, the government trotted her out to a press conference. She dutifully said that she did not want to go abroad and that in any case her mother was sick and so she couldn’t. But then she also told some of the reporters who could understand her dialect (her native language is siraiki, and she also speaks some Punjabi, but no real urdu) that she was being forced to say this, and that she was being held against her will. In the meantime, her mother told reporters that she’s in fine health and that Mukhtaran is being imprisoned and wants to go abroad.

Then on Tuesday evening, the prime minister of Pakistan apparently called Mukhtaran, presumably to say the government was relenting. It has now taken her off the “exit control list,” and she reportedly has been taken to the US embassy, perhaps to get a visa. She still hasn’t been allowed contact with her friends, but some think that the government is now just going to wash its hands of the mess and let her go back to her village or just take her to the airport and put her on a plane out.

TO DONATE: I've made a small contribution (actually, big for me) to Ms. Bibi through my friends on the Oxford committee and I'd urge readers to do the same. She's working with a respected international aid organization, Mercy Corps, on building and running her schools in Pakistan. Here's the donation info, if you have the means to help:

To donate to Mukhtaran Bibi's efforts, please send a check or money order to:

Mercy Corps
Mukhtaran Bibi Fund
Dept. W
PO Box 2669
Portland, OR 97208-2669

UPDATE II: The State Department says she's free to travel and a spokesman said the U.S. put pressure on its ally to allow Ms. Bibi to visit the United States. If this is true, I retract some of my angrier opening statements of last night (that's for Alva and Fitz, who called me on the vitriol) but I stick with those condemning the types of allies we do business with in the name of "freedom," and the decision of the Bush Administration to stick with Musharraf. In any case, a good quote from the State spokesperson, in my view:

"We were confronted with what I can only say was an outrageous situation, where her attackers were ordered to be freed while she had restrictions on her travel placed on her," the spokesman said. "We conveyed our views about these restrictions to the senior levels of the Pakistani government. The government of Pakistan informed us today that Ms. Mai been removed from its exit control list permitting her to travel out of Pakistan. We have also advised Pakistani officials that she was invited to the United States by a Pakistani organization based on the U.S."

Comments

[Tony Alva]

If this story is true then I say out F'ing standing!!! I hope she gets to make the trip here. Let us know where she'll be.

[Neil the Ethical Werewolf]

Thanks for coordinating all this. Please keep us updated.

[Lance Mannion]

Tom, another link for your list of bloggers who've responded. Jaquandor at Byzantium's Shores.

http://byzantiumshores.blogspot.com/2005/06/our-partners-in-peace.html

Thanks again, Tom. Good man.

[maz]

People all over the world may be thinking that the agony of Mukhtaran Mai – the Pakistani Gang rape Victim - is over. Sadly that does not seem to be the case.

It now appears that this new bit of news - that the Pakistan government has removed Mukhtaran Mai’s name from the notorious ‘Exit Control List’ and that she is free to go wherever and whenever – is complete nonsense.

According to the Pakistan press the Government has quietly seized the poor woman’s passport.

Kindly check today’s headline story from Pakistan’s ‘Daily Times’

MAI REMOVED FROM ECL BUT PASSPORT SEIZED

* Mai being forced to change lawyer: Aitzaz Ahsan
* Aurat Foundation director says climbdown ‘clever’ tactic by govt
* Mai’s mother accuses govt of illegal detention

By Zulfiqar Ghuman

ISLAMABAD: Mukhtar Mai’s name has been removed from the Exit Control List (ECL) and she is free to go wherever she wants, Federal Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao told the National Assembly on Wednesday.

“Mukhtar Mai’s name has been removed from the ECL on the directives of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. There are no restrictions on her movement,” the interior minister said. Mai’s lawyer Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan discussed the matter with the prime minister in the House and the prime minister agreed to remove her name from the ECL.

“I told the prime minister that the government itself should escort her around instead of her getting into the hands of people who might exploit this case and malign Pakistan’s image abroad,” Ahsan told Daily Times. Daily Times sources said that Mai’s Pakistani handler took her to the US embassy and she requested the embassy to return her passport without a visa. Sources said that government authorities seized her passport, saying the government would facilitate Mai if she wished to travel abroad.

Later, Mai spoke to HRCP chairperson Asma Jehangir, and told her that the prime minister called her on the phone and assured her that if she cooperated with the government and handed over her passport, her name would be removed from the ECL. “The prime minister told me that he would personally ensure that I would be able to go to the US in a month,” she was quoted as telling Asma.

Earlier in the National Assembly, Ahsan said the government was violating basic human rights by keeping Mai in custody and not allowing her to meet her lawyer. “It is the basic human right of every Pakistani to appoint a lawyer of his/her choice,” he said. “I am not concerned about her name being on the ECL. I am concerned that she is my client and she is not being allowed to meet me,” he said. He said Mai was also being forced to change her lawyer. “She wanted to meet me in Lahore and then in Islamabad. But she was unable to contact me as Nilofar Bakhtiar did not allow her,” Aitzaz said.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_16-6-2005_pg1_1

[Josh]

Tom -- here are my posts from yesterday (http://joshshear.com/blogjosh/archives/2005/06/free_mukhtaran.html) and today (http://joshshear.com/blogjosh/archives/2005/06/more_on_mukhtar.html).

[Tyler Simons]

Thanks for linking to our blog! Your link doesn't go to Habakkuk's Watchpost, though. I think you missed an [/a]

[Hootsbuddy]

Friendly heads-up here. I received the same note from Tyler Simmons and started checking each of your links. Seems like his (Habakkuk's Watchpost) and Athena both link to Random Ravings. I corrected the first on my copy, but finding anything named "Athena" with Google is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Thanks.

[UmmZaid]

Hi. I have all my posts about Mukhtar Mai categorized on my blog:
http://www.sunnisisters.com/sunnisister/?cat=20

Also, this sister from the US is trying to launch an e-mail campaign to the Pakistan embassy to support M. Mai:
http://izzymo.blogspot.com/2005/06/e-mail-plea-for-mukhtar-mai-i-sent.html

and

http://izzymo.blogspot.com/2005/06/mukhtar-mai-e-mail-campaign-salaam.html

and she will be writing an article about Mukhtar Mai's case for Islamicity.com, which is the most popular (by hits) Islamic website, to raise awareness.

[Dave Deans]

Trying to do my bit...

http://kittykittykillkill.blogspot.com/

and

http://kittykittykillkill.blogspot.com/2005/06/our-friends-from-subcontinent.html

[David Deans]

Oh, already there...

[billy bryans]

here is my article

http://misterbryans.typepad.com/misterbryans/2005/06/mukhtaran_bibi_.html

[harini]

hi
tnx for including my blog.
there is a blogger from Pakistan who has a continous update of this case - and some very interesting comments. you may want to check it out here

[Carnacki]

My blog covers tales of supernatural horrors, but I'm willing to help spread awareness among the horror community.

http://carnacki.blogspot.com/2005/06/horrifying.html

[Tyler Simons]

Thank you for fixing my link!

[S. Reshma Yunus]

Thank you for following this very important case. This may well be the watershed issue in women's rights and the rights of the oppressed.
May God Bless you and although no amount of anything will compensate Mukhtaran Bibi for the hurt and injustice she has undergone, at least we can hope/pray and work towards achieving accountability for the perpetrators of this heinous crimes.

[fun_n_peace]

This is the real war on terror: to free millions of innocent women and minorities that are routinely killed, raped, tortured or repressed.

We must liberate Mukhtaran Bibi today, and not rest till this barbarism stops.

[Rose Marie Fructuoso]

It is appalling that in this day and age, women are treated like this.

[Sebnem Aksan]

Certen muslim political leaders even in Turkey enforce women to cover which is nothing but repression of women which inevitably leads to male control and punishment of women. I am teriffied by the articles on Muhtaran Bibi story and others please do keep me on your list and let me know what I can do to help.

[marcus colasurdoi]

On September 24th, in Baltimore ,Maryland, Gimme
Shelter Productions will be performing a very special evening of poetry, music, dance and drama
to raise funds for the ongoing efforts of Mukhtaran
Bibi to improve the lives of men, women and children in Pakistan...The show will be held at St. Mary's
Church, 3900 Roland Ave. I for one, will be performing and I am honored to be able to do some little good on behalf of a most courageous and inspiring woman of the heart....
Avanti !
Marcus Colasurdo
gimme shelter productions
P.O. Box 33127
Baltimore, Md. 21218

[Marcielle Brandler]

Marc Colasurdo.
Please email me and visit my site. I am glad you are doing so many good things with poetry and politics.
Marcielle

[Malvina]

I LOVE your site! Your graphics are awesome! Your backgrounds are simply gorgeous! Keep up the good work!

[nightowl]

This is so disturbing we all should be shouting from the roof tops.
Such injustice can't go unchallenged.

[Rustam]

hay
My name is Rustam younas we want to donation for church planting and sunday school help.

I am live in Pakistan so want to donation Pakistan in the villages because never more church and never school please if you are my some help to please contact to me.

InChrist
Salaam
Rustam
+0092-300-8006011