Mukhtar Mai laments withdrawal of security

MULTAN: Gang-rape victim Mukhtar Mai is facing serious life threats again in the wake of the withdrawal of police security in Meerwala, Alipur Jatoi in Muzaffargarh district.

Talking to The News, Mukhtar Mai said she was provided police security but all of a sudden it was withdrawn without her notice. She said she herself and her students and children underwent a shock due to withdrawal of police security.

She said she held a meeting with Muzaffargarh DPO Hassan Iqbal and repeatedly requested him to redeploy police security for her. She said the DPO promised to do so, but nothing had happened after one month. Two cops were deputed to provide her life-time security in 2001 when she was gang-raped on the directives of village council. Mukhtar Mai also reported to DIG Dera Division on several occasions but he also did nothing.

She told the scribe that she is running a Girls Model School and Ghulam Farid Primary School for boys and girls at Meerwala. The schools were established with an intention to impart education to boys and girls of the area.

She said she is providing free education with the help of philanthropists. She said books, uniforms and free pick-and-drop services are being accorded to the students of her schools. She had handed over a school of 5-Kanal with building, water availability, computer lab, library, and modern furniture to the government.

She said now she and her family members were feeling insecure and a man identified as Wasim the other day entered her house waving a pistol and threatening to kill her. When contacted, Dera Ghazi Khan Regional Police Officer Waqas Nazir said Muzaffargarh district police actually deputed a constable for her security. The district police transferred him to somewhere but Mukhtar Mai did not accept it because the transferred constable was her husband. The matter came to his notice and he directed Muzaffargarh DPO to post the constable of her choice.