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Criticism is the best antidote to smugness. It keeps you
on your toes, makes you recheck facts and re-examine
presumption. I would be the last person to say anything
against anybody--male or female--for no good reason. I shall
not say anything even against the politicians--who are
considered a fair game by everybody--unless there is
justification for it.
So, I welcomed criticism from a friend against my reference
to Mukhtaran Mai in my article, "On Mullahs, Hudood and
American women." His letter is reproduced below in full.
Except for his name, I have not changed a single word. This
is what he wrote:
I know MM [Mukhtaran Mai] fairly well, and have looked
closely at her organization and its finances. I have about
forty years of experience of social work and work in the NGO
sector in the west, the middle East, Pakistan and
Afghanistan.
Whilst I have no idea what her own personal wealth may be, I
do know that she gives away, daily, considerable sums of her
own cash. Usually to poor women who turn up at her shelter
at all hours of the day and night.
Her organization is not rich. It currently has two donors,
with a possible two more in the pipeline depending on audit
and verification visits by donor agencies. It does receive
small individual donations from people around the world, but
they are little more than loose change, and certainly not
enough to fund a program.
She takes no salary from the organization.
The highest paid worker in the organization earns 15,000
rupees a month.
As far as transparency and accountability goes, it has some
of the best record keeping I have ever seen here in
Pakistan, accounting for expenditure to the last rupee. I
have lost count of the NGOs here I have had to trawl thro
and found clear evidence of corruption and bad financial
management. Try as I might...and I am VERY good at this sort
of thing...I could find nothing out of order with Ms Mukhtar
Mai's organization.
She lives a very simple life here, has no trappings of
wealth or fame, occupies a single room next to her office,
and has not indulged herself in anything so far as I can see
apart from a fridge, a TV and a split a/c unit. And a DVD
player.
I cannot comment on your remark about her 'handlers' but can
say that over the last six months that I have direct
knowledge of her organization, I have seen no evidence of
anybody 'handling' it or her apart from her Board of locally
recruited people who all act voluntarily. Unpaid.
Your comment that rape has been turned into a money-making
machine is distasteful in the extreme. But no surprise...I
have come to expect that sort of attitude from men in
Pakistan. How sad. How very sad.
In other respects, I find much to agree with in what you
have written.
I am copying your email to her project manager, who may
reply to you himself.
Best wishes,
HERE IS MY RESPONSE:
Sometimes it gives a better perspective if one looks below
the surface and also from a distance. Being wealthy but
living simply may appear to be contradictory but it is not
something unusual in this part of the world. There are
millionaires who look almost like beggars.
Mukhtaran had the sympathy of the entire country when her
case became known. We all praised her courage to stand up
and fight back. We all wanted her to have justice.
Then the whole situation changed after she fell into the
hands of her handlers in NGOs, here and abroad. She went to
several European countries, several times to the U.S. Who
were the people who paid for her tours? Did they have spare
money to spend on her pleasure trips, expecting nothing in
return? Well, they exploited her to collect donations. And
as much as they could. And they are still doing it, by
parading Mukhtaran as a symbol of our society. If it is not
making money out of rape, I don't know what it can be.
What did say wherever she spoke? She certainly talked about
her tragedy. And she also spoke about the conditions in her
country. How was it helpful in improving conditions back
home? How did it create more awareness among our own people
about what should be done for women?
I really don't understand. What I do know is that it created
a very poor image of the country. Gang rapes happen all over
the world but she created an impression as if the conditions
were the worst in her own country. She tried to hold a news
conference in the UN building just when the Prime Minister
of her own country was there. Why was she playing into the
hands of her handlers? Could there be anything worse that a
Pakistani could do?
She was once stopped from going to the U.S. because of the
seriously negative propaganda that she had been carrying out
against the country but was later allowed to go. The way she
commented on the incident very sarcastically on television
made it clear how she loved her trips abroad. It also showed
how ungrateful she was to the government that gave her Rs
500,000, an award, carried out development works in her
village and set up a permanent post in the village only for
her own protection.
A Geo TV team spent a day with Mukhtaran at her home for its
program, "Ek din Geo kay sath." She told the team that she
had spent over two million rupees on her house (shown in
video). Nobody familiar with village life could believe that
it was worth more than a fraction of the amount. Then she
mentioned another big amount for which she had bought
buffaloes that gave her an income of about Rs 15,000 per
month.
When the interviewer asked her about the money she was
getting from foreign donors, she claimed "there is no proof"
but with a sheepish smile that said it all. In our culture,
spoken words are not taken on their face value; body
language is much more eloquent.
Amna Buttar
There is an organization in the U.S., Asian-American Network
Against Abuse of Human Rights, or AANA
(http://www.4anaa.org/oldsite.htm and http://4anaa.org/. Dr
Amna Buttar is its President. She has been handling
Mukhtaran's frequent U.S. trips. Her web site says, "ANAA is
an entirely volunteer run organization. We are the first
group among Pakistani Diaspora that is increasing awareness
about Gender Apartheid and Gendercide that is occurring in
Pakistan. We increase awareness regarding Pakistani women
and their struggle through human rights violations."
It is not possible to understand how awareness can be
created "about Gender Apartheid and Gendercide that is
occurring in Pakistan" through propaganda in the U.S. How do
you create awareness in Pakistan about the situation by
talking about it to the people in the U.S.?
What does Dr Buttar's AANA has to show for the donations her
organization gets by exploiting Mukhtaran? There is all the
information on her web site about Mukhtaran's tours, press
reports about her visits and her video clips but no
information about the amounts collected so far and no
indications of where the money was spent in Pakistan or how
the two shared it.
How much have Amna's actions helped the women in Pakistan?
Her website does not say anything. What it does is to ask
for donations, on page after page, again and again. But
there is no account of it.
Mukhtaran must be aware of donations collected in her name.
However, the latest annual report of her own NGO, The
Mukhtar Mai Women's Welfare Organization, does not say
whether it received anything from AANA. (She is supposed to
have one but my browser cannot find the website of the
Organization, http://www.mmwwo.org/)
Financial position
On my request, Farhan A. Khan, Program Manager, of Mukhtar
Mai Women's Welfare Organization, supplied this information
about finances of the organization:
MMWWO have four donors so far and these are:
1. NED, USA 40,000 US $ (NED support many projects in
Pakistan)
2. CIDA, 2.2 million Pak Rupees (we have ended this project
in March 2006) (CIDA is one of the biggest donor for
Pakistani NDGs)
3. MercyCorps 4 million Pak Rupees (We don't have all this
amount, this is pledge with MercyCorps and they send us in
installment for the running cost of the school annually @ 1
million per year)
(This amount of donation has been collected by very famous
journalist of New York Times Mr. Nicholas D. Kristof for
Mukhtar Mai Girls School for four years)
4. The Embassy of Netherlands, Development and Cooperation
Department: Rs: 1.5 million
(This amount is for the construction of NGO's new office
building and furniture and this amount is approved but we
will receive this in the first week of January 2007)
Summary of donations
Rs 2,400,000 ($40,000xRs 60)
Rs 2,200,000
Rs 4,000,000
Rs 1,500,000
Total Rs 10,100,000
In addition, the Government of Pakistan gave Mukhtaran Rs
500,000 on 5 July 2002
All these donations came from governments or large donors.
There is no mention of any other donations from any private
source. Not even one dollar.
Despite these donations, Program Officer Farhan Khan says
that "last March we don't have enough money to give salary
to our school staff." One wonders how the organization can
run out of cash despite having millions and that to pay the
pittance to village teachers.
Annual report
The following is the complete statement of receipts and
payments for 14 months. The single-page original (attached
as a PDF document) has very little information about the
multimillionaire organization. Even a novice accountant can
tear it apart, not to speak of an income tax official.
RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS
March 2005—May 24, 2006
RECEIPTS RUPEES
CASH: MARCH 31, 2005
In Hand 430
At bank a/c.No.01024843 1,000
At bank alc.No.2489-8 1,000
DONATIONS & FEE
Donations 775,111
GRANT-IN-AID
Grant from CIDA 2,100,000
TOTAL 2,877,541
PAYMENTS RUPEES
Salaries 205,000
Stationery 24,936
Uniform for students 36,940
Utility bills 18,974
Transportation 195,057
Bank charges 5,325
Women Day expenses 68,000
Purchase of feed 282,856
Vaccination 6,620
Miscellaneous expenses 8,517
Help to earthquake victims 300,000
CAPITAL EXPENDITURE RUPEES
Construction of school building 506,998
Construction of barn 242,794
Steel almirah 24,040
Swings 44,850
Furniture 137,350
Purchase of buffaloes/cows 508,350
Purchase of goats+fodder 94,498
CASH RUPEES
In hand 500
At bank account No. 01024843 165,936
At bank account No. 2489-8 -
TOTAL 2,877,541
Just note that over Rs 2.8 million of cash is unaccounted
for, as the second bank account shows nil. There is also no
mention of the bank's name. Surprisingly, the chartered
accountant did not question the glaring omission before
certifying the accounts. There is also no explanation why
the head of the Organization signs her name as "Mukhtiar
Bibi," while the name used otherwise is "Mukhtaran Mai."
There is no mention of the royalty that Mukhtaran Mai has
received for the book on her by a French writer, which was
also translated into English, German, etc. Then there is a
film being made abroad and one here. Did Mukhtaran get
nothing from them?
The following are the achievements of the Organization, as
described by Program Officer. Note that, except for the
number of students, there is no specific information. There
are only vague statements.
* 700 boys and girls are getting education in Mukhtar Mai
Girls School along with pick and drop facility free of cost.
* Mukhtar Mai Women Crises Relief Center is providing help
in the rehabilitation of survivors through legal support,
shelter and other related assistance: the center is dealing
with a large number of survivors from all over the country.
* The dairy farm in working to provide financial assistance
for the running expenses of the school and women empowerment
activities.
* Through the advocacy project MMWWO is promoting women
rights awareness in Rural South Punjab.
My friend says, "Try as I might...and I am VERY good at this
sort of thing...I could find nothing out of order with Ms
Mukhtar Mai's organization." Well, I have presented above
whatever I have found. Anybody can reach his own
conclusions.
Shazia Khalid
Another quite pliable rape victim that is helping the cause
of Dr Amna Buttar is Dr Shazia Khalid. She too has many
speaking engagements in the U.S. under Amna sponsorship. To
my knowledge, Shazia has not accused anybody so far.
According to at least one newspaper report, the culprit was
one of Akbar Bugti's own grandsons. However, Akbar killed
two birds with one stone by accusing an army officer. On the
one hand, he saved the real culprit and, on the other, he
turned the media against the army and federal government for
his own political purposes. The President himself assured
Shazia of all protection and support. He even arranged her
travel abroad when she insisted on leaving the country. She
could seek justice here if she wanted to. Instead, she went
abroad and has been all the time speaking against the
President and the country. Perhaps ungratefulness makes it
easier to make money out of rape.
Phoolan Devi
There was another celebrated case, of India's Phoolan Devi,
who too was gang-raped. She took the law in her hands,
joined a gang of dacoits, returned to her village to murder
her high-caste tormentors, went to jail, came out, joined
politics and ended up as a Member of Parliament. She
extracted quite a lot of money from the deals for books on
her and the film.
However, she never did two things: she never went abroad on
sponsored tours to tell the world how wretched her country
was. Nor did she turn herself into a money-making machine by
collecting donations.
Justice
Now let us talk about justice. The lower court convicted the
accused in the Mukhtaran Mai case. However, the Multan Bench
of the High Court overturned the judgment because it
concluded that there was not enough evidence. It acquitted
five of the six accused. She may be absolutely right in her
accusations but that does not satisfy the Anglo-Saxon law
with which we are stuck. It says that a person is innocent
until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
There was an outcry here and abroad on the High Court
judgment. The Supreme Court admitted an appeal early last
year but there has been no hearing so far. There may never
be any. The court will not convict the accused without
sufficient evidence but it may find it difficult to acquit
them because the outcry by her supporters here and abroad
will put the government under severe pressure.
Meanwhile, the accused are languishing in jail. What about
justice for them? Will they spend the rest of their life
behind bars just because Mukhtaran Mai has become a
celebrity? Do they not have any rights as citizens until
convicted? Are their different—and contradictory—concepts of
justice for celebrities and ordinary people? Why is it not
possible for Mukhtaran Mai to tell the court that the
accused have already suffered enough and, therefore, she
withdraws her case against them? Or will she be satisfied
only with their death, with or without conviction?
A police post right in her village should be enough for her
protection. Even otherwise, nobody dare touch her. She now
has enough influence to get anybody in jail for the rest of
his life by accusing him of harming her.
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