A friend of mine in the States sent me this New York Times link about the rape and subsequent horrors a Pakistani woman has suffered (you'll need to go read it to understand any of this, but it's worth your time). What follows is my response:

As one of the not-so-nice Canadians, I agree with the decision of the Canadian bureaucrat. Kristof says the couple is safe, although not happy, in London. What reason does the Canadian government have to expedite the transfer? Why should the nice Canadians move any more quickly than the British consulate, who apparently aren't in any great hurry to grant asylum? And if the couple has relatives in Canada who are ready to accept her, why were they not contacted for this column? Why is there nothing from a spokesman of the Pakistani government, not even the standard "Phone calls were not returned" (in fact, I don't even see anything except the word of Shazia and Khalid)?

While I applaud the attention given to the deplorable plight of women in Pakistan and surrounding countries, this is a sloppy, sloppy job by Kristof to point fingers rather than attempt to solve the issue. I will email Joseph Volpe, and I hope Shazia does receive asylum here -- in its due course, through the proper channels -- not because an American columnist thinks Canada should be ignoring the diligence and caution his own government is pushing on the rest of the world.