Musharraf under fire for remark on rape

"It was shocking to read that General Musharraf had publicly aired his low opinion of women...," opposition MP Sherry Rehman said about Musharraf's comments in an interview with the Washington Post this week.

"This is very frivolous way of looking at rape cases in the country," human rights activist Kamila Hyat told AFP on Friday.

Musharraf made the comments after being asked about the high-profile case of Mukhtaran Mai, who was gang raped on the orders of a tribal council in 2002 as punishment for her brother's alleged love affair with a woman from another tribe.

Her treatment by the Pakistani government, which tried to bar her from addressing US rights groups about her ordeal, earned the still conservative Islamic country international wrath.