She has won international praise as a campaigner for women’s rights, first by speaking out against the assault on herself and then later for highlighting an on-going problem with the treatment of women in some parts of the sub-continent. She has built two schools in her village with the compensation money she was awarded, founded the Mukhtar Mai Women’s Welfare Organization and has also published an autobiography. Now Mukhtar Mai has married police constable Nasir Abbas, whom she first met in the police station of the village where she was gang-raped.

Mr Abbas threatened to divorce his first wife, if Ms Mai did not marry him. Even his first wife and his sisters pleaded with her to marry him, upon which she agreed to be his second wife. She maintains that her decision was based on sensible grounds as she did not want to be the reason for a family break-up. Furthermore, she explained that relationships are best left in the hands of God and that God has found her a good man in Mr Abbas.

In a culture, where it is not very common that a woman who was raped or committed adultery would be considered for marriage again, this is a very progressive step in the right direction. For a woman in Pakistan, or any other country in South Asia, to publicly expose her terrible agony is tremendous. Her story itself is very remarkable and certainly made the world go round.

Seven years ago Mukhtar Mai, then known as Mukhtaran Bibi, was gang-raped by four men on orders of the Meerwala village council in a Pakistani province of Punjab. The sentence was an honour-punishment after her teenage brother was accused of adultery. Severely affected by her ordeal, she put aside all taboos regarding her unjust torment and fought to have the perpetrators convicted. A dozen men from the village stood trial, out of which four were the rapists and two were tribal leaders. In 2005, the five men sentenced to death were discharged on appeal. This only motivated Ms Mai to work harder at bringing her tormentors to justice.

The Meerwala gang rape case took many twists and turns over the years. The attackers and the general public saw Mukhtar Mai struggle to find justice. Fate reached an exceptional low when the rape victim was placed on house arrest by the government. She was also banned from leaving the country. Former President Musharaf admitted on his blog that he put restrictions on her movement. His decision came as a means to save Pakistan’s international reputation.

After world-wide outrage at Mukhtar Mai’s suppression, her ban was lifted and she travelled to the US. She met with former US President Bill Clinton and accepted the Woman Of The Year award in 2005 by Glamour magazine. Mr Musharaf vowed to ensure that Mukhtar Mai finds justice in an effort to better the country’s image of the treatment of women. However, the six men who were arrested and sentenced to death are currently still in custody, awaiting a retrial.

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