As is the custom of their religion SHE is PROPERTY. Does that answer your question?
Posted on 02/21/2005 12:31:02 PM PST by ambrose
Pakistani man ordered to marry off young niece as punishment for his adultery
MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) - A Pakistan village council has punished a 20-year-old man for adultery by ordering the betrothal of his two-year-old niece to the husband of the woman with whom he had the alleged affair, police said on Monday.
Tribal elders meeting last week also ordered Mohammed Akmal to pay a 230,000-rupee ($4,782 Cdn) fine to the woman's husband, who has since divorced his wife.
Police said that the council in Kacha Chohan village, about 350 kilometres west of Punjab province's major city of Multan, decreed that the two-year-old girl would be married to Mohammed Altaf when she turns 18.
Altaf, a 42-year-old farmer, divorced his 32-year-old wife over her alleged love affair with Akmal, and then asked elders to convene the panchayat, or council, on Feb. 15 to arbitrate in the dispute and propose a punishment.
Akmal, a bachelor and also a farmer, is Altaf's cousin and has no children.
Area police chief Maqsoodul Hassan said officers have started an investigation, but had made no arrests because no one had filed a complaint.
None of the parties to the dispute could be reached for comment Monday. Their Mazari tribal village has no telephone service.
Rashid Rahman, a lawyer and Multan-based co-ordinator with the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, condemned the village council's decision.
"These types of panchayats are illegal and nobody has the right to take a decision about a child's life," he said. "This country has its legal system and all decisions should be taken under it."
He said that the betrothal of a minor did not break the law - but that forcing a woman to marry against her will carries a maximum 14-year jail sentence. Underage marriage, also illegal, is only punishable by a fine.
Village councils in conservative rural parts of Pakistan traditionally rule on local disputes, such as when a family's "honour" is purportedly besmirched by allegations of love affairs. The councils can dictate harsh - and sometimes illegal - punishments.
In 2002, another village council near Multan ordered a woman to be gang-raped as punishment for her brother's sexual relations with another woman.
A court later convicted six men who perpetrated the rape and sentenced them to death. They are appealing their sentences.
"It takes a village..."
Poor girl.
Does noone over there think of the child's interest. She's being married off at the age of two from one broken home to another.
Sick.
...
In 2002, another village council near Multan ordered a woman to be gang-raped as punishment for her brother's sexual relations with another woman.
Why is an innocent female relative always forced to pay the price for the man's crime?
As bad as that is, everyone has overlooked the obvious.
SHE'S NOT HIS DAUGHTER!
She's his niece.
How do these tribunals find they have the right to force someone not even involved in the 'crime' to pay for the criminal?
Astounding!
Exactly how is this news? (Aimed more at the AP for reporting than for you at posting.)
By the way, that was a rhetorical question I asked. There's no need to answer. I know the answer.
A woman is not a person in that society... she is simply a manifestation of a man's "honor", in which case the "punishments" make perfect sense.
What neanderthals.
Because moose-limbs are third-world savages.
And before I'm flamed to death, let me clarify that I am not saying that this is right, only that in that area of the world, it's so common that it isn't really newsworthy.
And this is supposed to be better than British rule.
Hmmm.
Regards, Ivan
Exactly..
We should send Susan Eskridge, Helen Thomas and Hillary Clinton to Pakistan as soon as possible.
If that doesn't make them appreciate their women more, nothing will.
Stories like this make me so angry, I can't express it...
Need to go find some 10 penny nails to chew.
Then why are you on this thread?
As is the custom of their religion SHE is PROPERTY. Does that answer your question?
Why not?
Islamic Justice
Not all muslims are third world savages. This happened in a very remote and backwards part of Pakistan.
If you visit the NOW site and search "Afghanistan", they have not updated their articles since the Taliban were defeated. And you are exactly right about Bill and Hillary. When she failed to double-bag his clothing and throw it onto the White House lawn, the movement choked on it's own vomit.
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