Pakistan’s Mukhtar Mai Marries–But Why?

Elisabeth Eaves – Forbes digital news – Friday 20 March, 2008

Stories about heroes are never as simple as they seem.

Mukhtar Mai became a global hero after she was gang-raped in 2002 on the orders of a village council, as punishment for an alleged offense committed by her brother. Rather than committing suicide, as would have been traditional for a rape victim in her farming village in Pakistan’s Punjab, she successfully fought her attackers in court, then used the compensation money to open schools and a women’s aid group.

Her story captured attention around the world. The barbarity of the details surrounding her case (her 12-year-old brother’s “crime” was that he himself had been molested), her unwillingness to stay silent, and her determination to subsequently do some good has fired imaginations, leading to an influx of funds for her schools, help from international human rights groups, meetings with foreign dignitaries, and publication of an autobiography and a biography. There’s even a Hollywood biopic in the works. . .

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