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Mukhtaran Bibi Update

Tom Watson continues to push for action on Ms. Mukhtaran’s case (if you don’t know about it, start here). The good news is that, thanks to the efforts of Tom and his cadre of indefatigable bloggers, Pakistan’s government has allowed her to return home. The bad news is that “she still cannot travel, her future is still not certain, and the President of her country refuses to answer questions.”

In a recent post, Tom joins New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof in calling on the Bush administration to act on Ms. Mukhataran’s behalf.

And [Kristof] adds a powerful kicker: the Bush Administration should take the lead in holding allies responsible for human rights abuses. Is this a Jimmy Carter-like call for human rights as American policy, doomed to draw snickers from the Georgetown-living, Cabernet-swilling realpolitickers?

I don’t think so, and neither does Kristof. Indeed, if anything’s apaprent in a post-9/11 world it is that our deals with the devil come back manifold, that we need to be active and aggressive in changing the world, and that human rights - in the long term - can have a foreign policy impact that will draw us closer to the Muslim world. There’s nothing wrong with holding the Administration’s feet to the fire, and with holding Mukhtar Mai out as a hero and a symbol, something Kristof does very well today.

Kristof, Watson, and crew have already made a difference, but it’s obvious that they will not rest until Ms. Mukhataran is truly free. And neither should we.