Isn't It Romantic?

Here's a love story out of Pakistan for all you hopeless romantics out there. Lovely Mukhtar Mai, 37, was married Sunday in a simple ceremony in her dusty farming village, Meerwala, in Punjab province. If you're not familiar with her, Ms. Mukhtar became a symbol of hope for voiceless and oppressed women after her village council ordered that she be raped as a punishment for actions attributed to her younger brother. He was accused of having illicit relations with a woman from a rival clan, but investigations showed that the boy had been molested by three of that clan’s tribesmen, and the accusation against him had been a cover-up.

Rather than killing herself -- like most rape victims there do -- she successfully challenged her attackers in court, winning international renown for her bravery. In the process, she met her future husband, Nasir Abbas Gabol, who was a police constable assigned to guard her in the wake of the attack. He pursued her relentlessly to be his second wife, but at first she said no. Finally, four months ago, he tried to kill himself. “The morning after he attempted suicide, his wife and parents met my parents but I still refused,” Ms. Mukhtar said. Mr. Gabol then threatened to divorce his first wife, Shumaila. Ms. Shumaila, along with Mr. Gabol’s parents and sisters, tried to talk Ms. Mukhtar into marrying him, taking on the status of second wife. (In Pakistan, a man can legally have up to four wives. It was her concern about Ms. Shumaila, Ms. Mukhtar said, that moved her to relent.

“I am a woman and can understand the pain and difficulties faced by another woman,” Ms. Mukhtar said. “She is a good woman.”

What a lovely country. It's just too bad Aaron Spelling didn't live to get his hands on this one.