DO THE RIGHT THING...
Tom Watson and others are spearheading an important petition, on behalf of Pakistan's Mukhtaran Bibi (courtesy Fred Wilson)...it's an important issue of women's rights in developing nations.
Do what you think you can...drop a line to Tom Watson if you'd like to be involved with your blog or in another capacity...
Over a 100 bloggers have joined in...at the very least, become informed on the issues, regardless of where you might fall on this issue politically and/or religiously. Here's the New York Times take on the story (registration required) and another resource link to ANAA, an organization focused on helping this brave woman.
Other resources:
- Technorati tag Mukhtaran Bibi
- Wikipedia entry here: has a detailed court record based account.
- Delicious tag by Tom
- Background on the events from KO, a long-standing Pakistani blog.
As someone who comes from that part of the world, and grew up in the region, I realize that "external influences" like what I'm recommending now, can and will be used by local politicians in the cause of the extremists' case.
Nevertheless, it's important to stand up and be counted on this issue. What will take generations to change in Pakistan and other places has to start with people from both sides of the political and religious spectra clearly defining right and wrong.
Doesn't happen too often when politics and religion are involved, particularly when fueled with ignorance...but this woman took a stand after the horror she went through and tried to change her hostile world for the better.
She deserves our respect and attention even though this is occurring half-way around the world and involves names we can barely pronounce. Surely we can spare just a little bit of attention now that the Michael Jackson trial is over.
tags
<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Mukhtaran+Bibi" rel="tag">Mukhtaran Bibi</a>
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