Posted on 07/04/2002 5:02:10 AM PDT by Prodigal Son
MEERWALA, Pakistan (AP) — For two nervous hours, the teenager worried for her 11-year-old brother as their father pleaded before a Pakistani tribal council that the boy had done no wrong in walking unchaperoned with a girl from a different tribe.
The council was unconvinced, and ordered a brutal punishment: The boy's sister would be gang raped to shame her whole family.
Shortly afterward, four members of the council took turns raping the 18-year-old sister in a mud hut as hundreds of people stood outside laughing and cheering.
"I touched their feet. I wept. I cried. I said I taught the holy Qur'an to children in the village, therefore don't punish me for a crime which was not committed by me. But they tore my clothes and raped me one by one," the young woman told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
As she spoke, her mother Allah Bachai sat beside her at their home in Meerwala village in southern Punjab province, wailing.
Senior police and provincial government officials visited Meerwala on Wednesday.
Asef Hayyat, Punjab's deputy inspector general of police, said the top officer at the local police station had been suspended and several close relatives of the suspects were detained to pressure the perpetrators into surrendering.
"We will soon arrest the real culprits," Hayyat told reporters.
Pakistan has a tradition of tribal justice in which crimes or affronts to dignity are punished outside the framework of Pakistani law. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has demanded an end to punishments by tribal councils.
The June 22 rape has outraged rights groups, who say the number of atrocities against women in Pakistan is increasing. And Pakistan's Supreme Court today directed top Punjab police and government officials to attend a special hearing Friday on the case.
Cited by Pakistan's government-run news agency, Chief Justice Sheikh Riaz Ahmad described the case as a violation of human rights.
Rana Ijaz, the Punjab government's law minister, was among officials who visited the village, and promised a full investigation and assistance to the victim's family.
"This is a very sad and shocking incident," Ijaz told reporters.
Villagers told him the rape was the second in the region recently. A week earlier, a girl in a nearby village committed suicide after being raped by two tribesmen, villagers said.
Local police said Wednesday two men had been arrested in that case.
In the June 22 rape, the Mastoi tribe demanded punishment after the teenager's brother was seen walking unchaperoned with a Mastoi girl in a deserted part of the village. The brother and sister are from the Gujar tribe, which is considered to be of a lower class.
The Mastoi tribe called a meeting of the tribal council. The teenager's father, Ghulam Farid, 54, said he pleaded for clemency with the council, telling them the Mastoi girl was safe with his son because he was too young to have sex.
"I told the tribal jury that my son is ready to marry (the girl) if they think she had been molested," Farid told AP. "But Mastoi tribesmen rejected this proposal saying how could they give their daughter to me, a low caste tribal."
"I begged them ... my daughter is a very pious girl," he said. "I reminded them, `She has been teaching holy Qur'an to your children, you are fully aware of her character,"' Farid said.
But the Mastoi girl's father rejected the pleas and demanded the gang rape as punishment, Farid said. Among the men on the tribal council was Mohammed Ramzan, the Mastoi girl's uncle, he said.
"Nobody supported me. There was no one to protect my daughter," Farid said.
This is so true.
My sentiments exactly. These maggots need to be exterminated.
Yeah, I know- bummer :-(
dagoofyfoot responded
I wonder how you would feel if somebody asked you that question after you were ganged raped by a dozen muslim laquered sand apes? Who cares! they're muslims and this is evil as hell!
1. What happened to the young Pakistani woman is a barbarous crime. I would like to see the men responsible gang-raped and then shot.
2. However, there are differences between local traditions and religious laws. If you are commenting on the religion, then you should be sure the offence was not cultural.
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