Assiya Rafiq in front of her mother, Iqbal Mai

Assiya Rafiq of Pakistan was sold at 16 by a female family friend to two criminals who were related to prominent politicians. The men beat and raped her for the next year, until they handed Assiya along with $625 over to police as a bribe. Assiya’s kidnappers had earlier been implicated in a gold robbery and decided Assiya would be a good candidate to blame the crime on. 

Assiya was then beaten and raped by the four police officers, including a police chief, over the next two weeks. Reportedly, a female constable would leave in order to give the men continue their abuse in private.

Assiya’s family learned of Assiya’s whereabouts and attempted to get her back by bribing the bailiff, who was also accepting bribes from the police. Despite the police hiding Assiya and locking up her young brother as a threat, her parents finally got her back and helped her receive a medical exam and investigation, which proved her hymen had been broken and confirmed the existence of physical damage such as abrasions covering her body. 

And then Assiya summoned the type of strength I can’t even fathom. She proceeded to prosecute both the kidnappers and the police, ignoring the normal process of rape recovery in rural Pakistan: suicide. Not only is this a girl who is taking hugely progressive steps, but she is turning her own awful experience into a beacon of hope for other girls, even despite the major adversity she will inevitably face. The president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Pakistan, Dr. Shershah Syed even stated, “When I treat a rape victim, I always advise her not to go to the police, because if she does, the police might just rape her again.” 

And while the police have not raped her again, they have threatened to. They have also threatened to arrest or kill her and her two younger sisters lest she withdraw her charges. 

The family is in hiding, but still in a lot of danger, and has accumulated thousands of dollars in debts. Assiya’s siblings have dropped out of school and will have trouble marrying because they are “dishonored.” Though Assiya stated she was inspired by Mukhtar Mai, a young woman who was gang raped in 2002, prosecuted her attackers and used the compensation money to start a school, women’s shelter, ambulance service, and legal aid program (which is now helping Assiya with her case), Mukhtar was very lucky in the results of her fight. Assiya has a long road ahead, and is still in constant danger. 

She is luck, however, in the sense that she has an amazing family behind her. Her mother, Iqbal, said that she once thought God should never give daughters to poor families, but then, “changed my mind. God should give poor people daughters like Assiya who will fight.” 

I’m so amazed by Assiya. There really aren’t adequate words. Whoever says women aren’t strong and resilient should take a look at Assiya, and Mukhtar for that matter. 

I found this story through Nicholas Kristof’s column, and he gives an update on the situation here. Also, to help Assiya and Mukhtar, please consider giving to the Mukhtar Mai fund, set up through MercyCorps. Money is being used to help hide Assiya and her family and hire lawyers for her.

Thomas L. Friedman reports in the New York Times about a new school for girls opened by Greg Mortenson, the author of “Three Cups of Tea.” He writes: 

Indeed, Mortenson’s efforts remind us what the essence of the “war on terrorism” is about. It’s about the war of ideas within Islam — a war between religious zealots who glorify martyrdom and want to keep Islam untouched by modernity and isolated from other faiths, with its women disempowered, and those who want to embrace modernity, open Islam to new ideas and empower Muslim women as much as men. America’s invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan were, in part, an effort to create the space for the Muslim progressives to fight and win so that the real engine of change, something that takes nine months and 21 years to produce — a new generation — can be educated and raised differently.

While the admiral passed out notebooks, Mortenson told me why he has devoted his life to building 131 secular schools for girls in Pakistan and another 48 in Afghanistan: “The money is money well spent. These are secular schools that will bring a new generation of kids that will have a broader view of the world. We focus on areas where there is no education. Religious extremism flourishes in areas of isolation and conflict.

“When a girl gets educated here and then becomes a mother, she will be much less likely to let her son become a militant or insurgent,” he added. “And she will have fewer children. When a girl learns how to read and write, one of the first things she does is teach her own mother. The girls will bring home meat and veggies, wrapped in newspapers, and the mother will ask the girl to read the newspaper to her and the mothers will learn about politics and about women who are exploited.”

This new school teaches grades one through six. I asked some girls through an interpreter what they wanted to be when they grow up: “Teacher,” shouted one. “Doctor,” shouted another. Living here, those are the only two educated role models these girls encounter. Where were they going to school before Mortenson’s Central Asia Institute and the U.S. State Department joined with the village elders to get this secular public school built? “The mosque,” the girls said.

Separating education from religion — good. Teaching girls and giving them hope and the ability to pass on their education to others, including their sons — great. It’s always nice to hear some good news amongst the ordinarily abysmal.  

Thoughts?