[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 130 (Friday, October 7, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11299-S11300]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN PAKISTAN

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I wish to bring attention to the 
appalling human rights abuses against women in Pakistan and to express 
my dismay with the recent comments of President Pervez Musharraf that 
rape in Pakistan has become an opportunity for women of his country to 
make money and emigrate. Victims of rape and domestic violence in 
Pakistan and around the world are offended by these irresponsible 
remarks.
  On September 13 President Musharraf stated the following in an 
interview with the Washington Post: ``You must understand the 
environment in Pakistan . . . This has become a money-making concern. A 
lot of people say if you want to go abroad and get a visa to Canada for 
citizenship and be a millionaire, get yourself raped.'' President 
Musharraf subsequently denied making these remarks, but the paper 
posted an audio link of the interview on its website, confirming that 
he had in fact been accurately quoted.
  These comments are completely unacceptable. They are especially so 
considering the fact that rape and other acts of violence against women 
in Pakistan are a longstanding problem. The U.S. State Department's 
Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 2004 reported that one out 
of every two Pakistani women last year was the victim of mental or 
physical violence. That is an astounding number. Additionally, the 
report states that husbands frequently beat and even occasionally kill 
their wives and that many females are disfigured by intentional 
burnings or attacks with acid. So called ``honor killings,'' when 
husbands murder their wives for alleged infidelity or other acts deemed 
to impugn the man's honor, also continue to be a problem in Pakistan. 
Yet the perpetrators of these crimes often escape punishment. Pakistani 
human rights organizations documented 1,458 cases of honor killings 
last year, and many more likely went unreported. A study by Human 
Rights Watch estimates that a woman in Pakistan is raped every 2 hours 
and that approximately 70-90 percent of women suffer from some form of 
domestic violence.
  The terrible stories of two Pakistani rape victims have been vividly 
portrayed in moving editorials by New York Times reporter Nicholas 
Kristof. From Kristof we first learned about Mukhtar Mai, who was gang-
raped in 2002 on the orders of a council of tribal elders, and also 
about Dr. Shazia Khalid, a Pakistani physician who was raped in January 
2005 by a military officer in her place of employment.
  These stories are tragic. But equally troubling is the cruel reality 
that many rape victims in Pakistan are pressured to drop charges by the 
authorities, as was the case for Dr. Khalid. Many who courageously 
decide to press forward are ostracized, beaten or even jailed on 
charges of adultery or fornication. What we are witnessing is an 
archaic and twisted judicial system where too often the victims are 
punished and the culprits go free. This practice of blaming and then 
abusing the victim is a disgrace.
  At a time when the Bush administration is embracing President 
Musharraf and giving Pakistan huge amounts of aid on account of his 
support for the administration's policies in Afghanistan, it should use 
its influence to press Musharraf to act immediately to address the 
rampant abuse of Pakistani women. This includes abolishing the Hudood 
Ordinances, a harsh penal code introduced in 1979 by then-dictator 
General Zia ul-Haq to Islamize the legal system. Unfortunately, 
President Musharraf has taken few concrete steps to protect women from 
this discriminatory and backward legal system.
  As we consider the plight of women in Pakistan and the tremendous 
obstacles they must surmount, the U.S. must take a hard look at the 
consistency of our own policies, especially with respect to advancing 
human

[[Page S11300]]

rights around the globe. I was troubled to hear that the State 
Department declined to react to Musharraf's comments. When asked about 
the interview by a member of the press, a Government spokesman skirted 
the issue by stating that ``The United States Government speaks out 
very clearly that violence against women, wherever it may occur, is 
unacceptable. And around the world, where this is a problem, we make a 
point of speaking out against it.''
  Unfortunately, the administration is not practicing what it preaches. 
The administration missed an important opportunity to speak out against 
a reprehensible allegation that women are using rape in order to make 
money and emigrate. In his inaugural address last year, the President 
stated that ``all who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the 
United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your 
oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.'' 
I urge President Bush to live up to his promise to promote democracy 
and advance human rights and to not ignore the women of 
Pakistan.

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