Pakistan Activists Call for Apology

30/09/2005| IslamWeb

Hundreds of rights activists rallied in the Pakistani capital yesterday, demanding President General Pervez Musharraf apologise for reportedly saying women in the country get raped to make money and get a visa.

"We strongly condemn and denounce ... Musharraf's remarks against women survivors of rape in a Washington Post interview" during his recent tour to New York, said Hina Jillani, a top human rights activist.

Addressing about 500 women protesters, she said Musharraf's remarks were an insult to all Pakistani women and demanded an "unqualified apology" from him.

The protest came 10 days after Musharraf told the newspaper that a lot of people in his country say "if you want to go abroad and get a visa for Canada or citizenship and be a millionaire, get yourself raped".

Although Musharraf says he only repeated what he had heard elsewhere, women say he should have been careful in choosing his words about rape victims.

According to a Pakistani human rights group, hundreds of women are killed here each year in the name of family honour, mostly in rural areas, after they are accused of having affairs.

PHOTO CAPTION

Pakistani women partcipate in a protest rally in Islamabad, Pakistan to condemn President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's remarks to a U.S. newspaper that some women viewed being raped as a way to acquire a foreign visa, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2005. (AP)