ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top judge has ordered a court hearing into the public flogging of a veiled girl, filmed on an amateur video, that has raised alarm about the tightening grip of hard-liners.
The details of her alleged crime were confused, but residents in her village of Kala Killey in Swat, said the woman was accused of illicit relations with an electrician and forced to marry him as part of her punishment.
The footage, apparently from a mobile phone, shows two men pinning down a burqa-clad young girl by her feet and shoulders, while a bearded man in a turban flogs her 34 times with a whip as she screams in agony.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has ordered the girl to be produced in court at a hearing set for tomorrow, according to a Supreme Court statement. He has also demanded that government and regional officials from the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) appear in person at the hearing.
“Chief justice of Pakistan has been pleased to order that ... the matter be fixed before a larger bench on Monday,” said a statement from the court. “Chaudhry has taken a serious notice of the video clipping on TV for violation of fundamental rights, guaranteed under the constitution of Pakistan,” it added in English.
At least two local residents said the trouble started when unknown people told the Taleban that the electrician visited the girl’s house on Jan. 3, where other women and children were also present.
“The Taleban arrested the couple and recorded their statements,” one of the residents told AFP on condition of anonymity. “Both the girl and the electrician assured the Taleban that they had not committed any sin. The couple also expressed readiness to undergo a medical examination to prove their innocence.”
But the Taleban ordered them to be whipped. “The electrician was also whipped but it is not known where he was taken,” said a low-level local government leader, who also requested anonymity. “The couple were forced into marrying each other after they were handed down the punishment,” he said.
“Nobody can go and see the couple as armed Taleban keep patrolling the village and mountains surrounding it,” he added.
Samar Minallah, who works for a Pakistan human rights organization, said she was given the tape by people in Swat and distributed it to the Western media to highlight the cruelties endured by women in the region.
“This girl was flogged on the basis of suspicious and false evidence. She is 17 years old... The entire village knows she is innocent,” Minallah told AFP. Meanwhile, hundreds of people held protests and demanded the arrest of those involved, AFP reporters witnessed.
