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Mukhtaran Mai was gang-raped in June 2002, as a form of honour revenge in a village in Pakistan’s rural Punjab. She became known internationally when in an unprecedented move, she decided to sue her attackers--and won. With her settlement money, she opened a centre for refuge and education of women in her village

What does spirituality mean to you?
It is about all the things that cannot be done by man, but that are always achievable by God.

Do you believe you are guided and protected by a superior force?
I have tremendous faith in God. He guides and protects me. From the time we are born, He controls our lives.

You may ask where was the protection in June 2002. But I should never blame God for what happened then. It was a sin committed by human beings. God had nothing to do with it. Rather, God gave me tremendous strength all along thereafter.

Was it an event that shaped or strengthened your beliefs in a significant way?
It actually strengthened my faith, which has grown ever stronger since then.
In the days following the rape, I considered suicide, which is expected most of the time from a girl or a woman who has lost her honour in that way. Those who rape her do not even need to use weapons to kill her. Rape kills her.

For days I did not eat, cry, or speak. I had made up my mind to kill myself. I would swallow some acid and die, putting an end to the shame that tormented my family and me. I begged my mother for acid. But she refused. She stayed by my side day and night, preventing me from any move. For days I felt I was going mad with helplessness.

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