- Cynthia Ritchie’s claims must be investigated but so should her credentials
Cynthia Ritchie, a US national residing in Pakistan for over a decade, claims that in 2011 former Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik in the PPP government, under the pretense of resolving her visa issues, invited her to his official residence, drugged her and then raped her. These are very serious allegations involving a person who acted from a position of power and assaulted a foreign national on Pakistani soil, and therefore require a thorough investigation to ascertain all the facts. There should be no hesitation or unnecessary delay in commencing a probe against these or any other allegations of sexual assault by the relevant authorities. We need to dispense with the unfortunate idea of an ‘ideal victim’ and stick to investigating allegations of sexual assault regardless of who is making them.
However, Ms. Ritchie’s own credibility is also something of a question mark. Her ubiquity in the corridors of power, rubbing shoulders with political bigwigs and heads of institutions at social events or official tours arranged especially for her during an extended stay in Pakistan. is mysterious. Under what capacity does she enjoy such unbridled access that many would give an arm and a leg for, no one really knows. On paper, she is a blogger, freelance film director and producer who according to her is working to portray a soft-image of Pakistan internationally, but none of her writing has been published in any reputable foreign publication while her very limited work behind the camera can be described as video-blogging (vlog) at best. The majority of her social media presence is based on Twitter where her engagement can be summed-up as relentless trolling. Through her past tweets, she has made multiple unprovoked below-the-belt vicious personal attacks on the Bhutto family, the more reprehensible of which are the ones on the late Benazir Bhutto, who is no more and can’t defend herself. In this context, her latest allegations being PPP-specific bring Ms Ritchie’s motives into question as well. None of her claims, which also delve into conspiracy theory territory, such as a PPP-PTM anti-state nexus, have ever been substantiated. It is quite surreal that a foreigner. about whom very little is known, is granted a visa every few years, who has highly questionable credentials, openly comments on domestic politics and deliberately tries to stir up controversy by spewing venom, is allowed regular face-time with the country’s leadership and on-demand airtime on primetime television as well. Her becoming a prominent figure in Pakistan’s political discourse can largely be attributed to the person(s) who facilitated it.
