The U.N. Cowers

Bowing to pressure from the regime of Pakistani strongman Pervez Musharraf, the United Nations cancelled an appearace by international human rights figure Mukhtaran Bibi Friday, banning her from doing a live interview with Soledad O'Brien sponsored by the New York-based charity Virtue Foundation. As readers of this blog know, Mukhtar Mai (as she is also known) was sentenced to be gang-raped by village elders in her village in Pakistan; instead of killing herself under the primitive honor system of the rural provinces, she used went to court and used a government settlement to found a school for illiterate villagers (like herself). Readers of this blog also know that she's my hero, a living symbol for modern times and the challenge of advancing modernity and human rights while respecting tradition and regional/religious differences. According to The Times, when "asked why the United Nations bowed to the Pakistani protest, Shashi Tharoor, the under secretary general for communications, said he could not comment on this specific case. But, he said: "As a general principle, indeed there are written instructions guiding the holding of any event on United Nations premises in which we are obliged to take into account views formally expressed by member states. This is a building and an organization that belongs to the member states." What the Pakistani government still does not realize is that Mukhtaran Bibi's story has spread throughout the free world (yeah, helped by a bunch of you bloggers, God love ya) and it's stronger than anything General Musharraf has at his disposal. Mukhtar Mai is world's foremost Pakistani, and she can only be a force for good - muzzling her at the U.N. (with pathetic technocratic complicity by that body itself) can do nothing to stifle her message. Blogger Bill Petti has it right when he notes "to say that they are on the wrong side of this one would be an understatement ... how they can let a country like Pakistan protest this appearance is beyond me." And for once, the National Review's headline sums it up best: "The Shameful, Cravenly U.N. vs. the Bravest Woman on Earth."