US invites Pak rape victim to visit country

The United States invited Pakistan gang-rape victim Mukhtaran Mai to visit the country, official sources said.

The invite was confirmed after Pakistan government lifted travel restrictions imposed on Mai on Wednesday.

"Mai is a courageous woman and we welcome her to travel to the US at any time," State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

"We have also advised Pakistani officials that she was invited to the US by a Pakistani organisation based in the US," he added.

Talking about the restrictions, McCormack said they were confronted with 'an outrageous situation where her attackers were ordered to be free while she had travel restrictions on her'.

He said, "We conveyed our views about these restrictions to the senior levels of the Pakistani government."

However, after the restrictions were lifted, Mai met US Embassy officials in Islamabad, the official added.

Asked whether Pakistan had given any explanation for Mai's reported detention, McCormack said, "I'm not aware of the exact content of the conversations between Assistant Secretary Rocca and the Pakistani Ambassador in the US."

Mai was repeatedly raped in 2002 on the orders of a tribal jury in Pakistan's Meerwala town as punishment for her brother's alleged affair with a woman of a rival clan.