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RR RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHLH #0190/01 2750716
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 020716Z OCT 09
FM AMCONSUL LAHORE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4181
INFO RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 4883
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 2150
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 1830
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 0493
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0873
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE 5340

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LAHORE 000190 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KWMN PK
SUBJECT: MUKHTAR MAI: STRUGGLING AGAINST THE PUNJABI FEUDAL SYSTEM 
 
REF: LAHORE 155 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary.  The Mukhtar Mai Women's Welfare 
Organization (MMWO), named for the survivor of a gang rape 
ordered by community leaders as vengeance for a family honor 
violation, is at a crossroads.  As it fights the feudal system 
and its oppression of women, it struggles with sustainability, 
effectiveness, and the foreseeable results of controversial 
activities by the organization and its leadership.  End summary. 
 
- - - 
Background 
--- 
 
¶2. (SBU) In 2002, members of the Mastoi clan accused a young man 
of raping a Mastoi girl in Meerwala, Tehsil Jatoi, Muzzafargarh 
District, Punjab Province.  To pay for his alleged crime, a 
group of Mastoi elders ordered that the young man's elder 
sister, Mukhtar Mai, be gang-raped.  Several men meted out the 
punishment.  Instead of quietly vanishing in 
culturally-acceptable "shame," Mai and her family filed charges 
against her assailants.  Mai became a symbol for women's rights 
issues in Pakistan and throughout the world, particularly after 
New York Times author Nicholas Kristof picked up her story.  The 
Government of Pakistan awarded Mai 500,000 Pakistani Rupees 
(approximately USD 8,600), which she used to open Mukhtar Mai 
Girls' Model School.  Determined to fight gender-based violence 
(GBV), in 2003 she opened the Mukhtar Mai Women's Welfare 
Organization (MMWWO) in Meerwala, to provide shelter, legal aid 
and counseling to survivors of GBV. 
 
----------- 
Progress 
----------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  On September 4, Mukthar Mai, accompanied by Samson 
Salamat, MMWWO manager, and Naseem Akhtar, MMWWO Chief-of-Staff, 
provided an overview of the organization, school and their 
advocacy work during an introductory meeting with PO.  Despite 
continued political pressure, in 2008 MMWWO provided assistance 
to 700 survivors of, and victims of ongoing, GBV.  MMWWO assists 
most clients via a telephonic help line and in-person 
consultations.  In a few especially egregious cases, it has 
intervened more actively.  Its mobile transportation unit 
rescued at least ten women in the past few months from domestic 
violence.  It also recently began providing shelter and the 
services of three attorneys to Assiya Rafiq, a teenage girl who 
claims that, while reporting to police that she had been 
sexually assaulted, was taken into custody and gang-raped by the 
police, reftel. 
 
- - - 
Operational, Capacity, Sustainability Challenges 
- - - 
 
¶4.  (SBU) While MMWWO is intended to fill a serious need, 
especially for vulnerable women and girls living in this 
extremely conservative part of southern Punjab Province, it 
faces a number of challenges.  Since its founding in 2003, MMWWO 
has developed no domestic revenue sources.  It relies 
exclusively on donations from the international community.  The 
Bureau of Democracy, Labor and Rights (DRL) funded a multi-year 
capacity-building grant, coordinated by the International Rescue 
Committee (IRC).  Two years into that grant, MMWWO has 
established a Board of Directors, instituted a computerized 
financial system, and provided financial management training to 
the staff.  Despite the organizational advances, however, IRC 
noted in its July 2009 quarterly report that MMWWO staffers were 
not coordinating with IRC's consultants as often as recommended. 
 IRC consultants observed during a site visit that women and 
children in the shelter were despondent.  There were no 
scheduled activities aimed at rehabilitation, skill-building, or 
treatment.  MMWWO staffers monitoring the helpline often did not 
listen to callers' stories, but instead rushed them to make a 
decision.  The report noted that IRC's consultants had 
repeatedly raised these issues with MMWWO during training and 
prior site visits, to no apparent affect. 
 
- - - 
Competing for Funding with Local Religious Leaders 
- - - 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Salamat described the challenges MMWWO faced in 
establishing a primary school, which he said was the only school 
in the village.  He asked that Post intervene (with unspecified 
authorities) to end opposition from local religious leaders to 
their school.  When we asked for details, Akhtar explained that 
friction had developed when MMWWO launched a door-to-door 
campaign to enroll female students.  MMWWO specifically visited 
 
LAHORE 00000190  002 OF 002 
 
 
the homes of girls who were attending schools operated by local 
mosques, encouraging their families to withdraw them from the 
religious schools and enroll in the MMWWO school.  The clerics 
operating the mosque schools protested MMWWO's tactics.  MMWWO 
then began negotiations with the clerics, trying to coordinate 
MMWWO's secular class schedule with the mosques' religious class 
schedules, so that children could benefit from both programs. 
Akhtar and Salamat said they had not yet reached an agreement. 
Note: The government provides stipends to schools based on 
reported student attendance.  Thus, recruiting students away 
from mosque schools threatened the clerics' income.  Post 
acknowledges that there is rampant fraud in the payment system, 
with "ghost schools" collecting income for non-existent 
students, but we presume that MMWWO intends to seek government 
funding only for students they actually enroll.  End Note. 
Salamat told us that Canada's International Development Agency 
(CIDA) has partially-funded operating costs for a school, but 
its current grant is coming to a close in November.  Salamat 
asked us whether the USG could pick up the portion of the costs 
CIDA has been underwriting, as CIDA had not committed to fund 
beyond 2009. 
 
- - - 
Sad Association of MMWWO Leader's Family in Feudal Honor Killings 
- - - 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Salamat and Akhtar also pressed for USG intervention 
on behalf of Akhtar and her relatives, specifically to fund 
their relocation to avoid contact with police investigators. 
Five years ago, Akhtar's female cousin had married against the 
wishes of her extended family.  Salman noted that since marrying 
the cousin, the husband had repeatedly taunted Akhtar's family 
for insufficiently protecting her honor, creating further bad 
blood.  On or about July 30, Akhtar, Salamat and Mai were in 
Lahore on MMWWO business.  Akhtar's family members telephoned 
them while they were on their way home to Muzzafargarh from 
Lahore, reporting that two members of Akhtar's family had gone 
to the couple's home, and a gun fight broke out.  The couple 
died of gunshot wounds, other members of the husbands' family 
were injured, and his family had filed reports claiming several 
of Akhtar's male relatives were involved. 
 
¶7.  Muzzafargarh police arrested Naseem's brother and cousin in 
connection with the murders.  Police were seeking another 
brother named in the other family's complaint.  Akhtar's entire 
family had gone into hiding to avoid police questioning or 
arrest, and police had been visiting MMWWO's offices, harassing 
staff, seeking information about Akhtar's relatives.  Salamat 
claimed that the police were targeting Akhtar because they 
wanted MMWWO to stop its work.  Naseem added that political 
leaders and feudal landlords were exploiting the situation 
through the police.  Note: After our meeting, we contacted 
Muzzafargarh District Police Officer (DPO) Hussain Habib about 
the case.  The DPO assured us that the police continued to 
maintain a guard to protect Mai and MMWWO, and acknowledged that 
there was an active murder investigation against specific male 
members of Akhtar's extended family.  End Note. 
 
---------- 
Way forward, or Dead End? 
----------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Comment.  MMWWO is meant to fill a great need in 
Southern Punjab to prevent GBV and more broadly support women's 
rights in the context of a culturally conservative and 
feudalistic environment.  It was founded by a survivor who chose 
to fight the system, instead of succumbing to it.    MMWWO's 
focus appears to be more on raising funds than on improving its 
services- understandable, if those funds might disappear, but 
its ineffectiveness may itself be a barrier to raising more 
money.  As Mai and her organization fight against the injustices 
of the feudal system it appears, unfortunately, that some of 
that fight has to begin at home.  Some of its current problems 
are self-inflicted, albeit partly by association.  MMWWO leaders 
are belatedly finding a way to compromise with local clerics, 
instead of attempting to take students away from them.  We 
believe that the feudal powers would see the Akhtar family 
"honor killing" as an opportunity to discredit MMWWO.  We think 
it is unlikely, however, that two members -and only two members- 
of Akhtar's family went looking for a gunfight with a rival 
family.  We speak frequently with MMWWO leaders and do what we 
can to respond to their requests, which are as frequently for 
money for their organization, or themselves personally, as for 
political intervention.  Post continues to appropriately support 
MMWWO by intervening with local authorities to ensure its work 
is not obstructed by those in power who would, undoubtedly, like 
to silence MMWWO's courageous and media-savvy founder.  End 
Comment. 
CONROY