Panchayat orders rape of two women in Pakistan

[Guest mehtab]

http://headlines.sify.com/3267news3.html?h...men~in~Pakistan

Panchayat orders rape of two women in Pakistan

Islamabad: A local Panchayat in Pakistan's Punjab Province recently ordered the rape of two village women, both related to each other by marriage, as retribution for the alleged illicit relations of a landlord's daughter with the brother of one of the girls.

The incident, which took place in Multan's Dinga Kabirwala village on April 30, has sent shock waves across the country and through the ruling political establishment.

Even Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has taken strong exception to it, saying that such incidents contravene the basic social tenets of Islam.

Musharraf has directed the Interior Minister, Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat, the Punjab Governor and its Chief Minister Chaudhary Pervez Elahi to order an investigation into the incident and to present the report to him.

"When a proper legal system exists in the country then who allows such decisions to prosper that not only destroyed the life of two girls, but has ruined an entire family," the Daily Times and Online News quoted Musharraf as saying about the rape of the two women in Dinga Kabirwala village on the orders of a local jury.

According to the local dailies, a landlord with full knowledge and cognizance of the local jury raped a young girl and her sister-in-law on April 30 in Basti Danga Naich, a suburb of Kabirwala.

The order to rape the girls was gi

ven after the brother of one them was accused of having illicit relations with the rapist's daughter.

Muhammad Saeed of Kabeerwala police station told Daily Times that a case had been registered against the alleged rapist and members of the jury. One of the accused has been arrested and the other five are at large.

Police said Ghaffar Jeer and Tajamal Naich of Basti Danga Naich had tried to rape Mumtaz, 16, on previous occasions and been told off by villagers.

On April 30, Ghaffar allegedly sent his daughter Shahina, alias Sanee, to Mumtaz's house while her brother Muhammad Riaz was inside. Ghaffar reportedly then locked the main door of the house and called the other villagers around, accusing Riaz of having an affair with Shahina.

Ghaffar then arranged for a panchayat of 50 people in his house. The jury, headed by Haji Muhammad Sultan, Haji Afzal Jeer and Ahmad Nawaz called Mumtaz and Riaz's sister-in-law Mudasan and ordered Ghaffar to rape them. Ghaffar allegedly took them to an outhouse and raped them.

Kabeerwala police registered a case against Ghaffar Jeer, Zahoor Jeer, Bashir, Haji Tajamal, Amir Nawaz and Haji Sultan on the complaint of Mumtaz's father Muhammad Nawaz.

Meanwhile, a human rights committee led by lawyer Sikandar Javed has visited the village and assured free legal aid to the victims. ANI

[Guest mehtab]

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.ppa?...men~want~to~die

Rape brings shame, these women want to die

Reuters

Kabirwala (Pakistan), May 7: Kabirwala (Pakistan), May 7:

Two Pakistani women who say they were raped on the authorisation of a village council to avenge a landlord's honour, say they would rather die than live with shame for the rest of their lives.

And in an interview on Friday at their makeshift mud house in the central province of Punjab, both expressed doubt that their powerful attacker would be punished, despite his arrest and those of the council members.

"How can I show my face now? Either I will jump in a well or take some poison," said tearful 16-year-old Mumtaz Mai, recalling her ordeal last month.

In deeply Islamic Pakistan, rape brings considerable social shame on both the victim and her family.

"I cannot go back to my parents' house, I cannot go in front of my husband; God please just bury me in the ground now," said Mumtaz's sister-in-law, Mudassan Mai.

She said she had little hope of justice.

"These are feudal people," she said. "The police belong to them, the courts belong to them, even the government belongs to them, whereas we don't know where our next meal will come from."

However, while such crimes are not uncommon in rural Pakistan, this case has provoked considerable interest inside and outside the country.

Police said on Friday they had arrest

ed the landlord, two of his brothers and the three-member village council, or panchayat, that authorised the rape.

All six were remanded in custody.

The attack occurred on April 30 in the small village of Donga Naich after the landlord complained to the council that his honour had been sullied when the son of a poor farmer began a relationship with his daughter.

The council members, all landlords themselves, ruled that Ghaffar, who uses only one name, could avenge his honour by having sex with the farmer's daughter and daughter-in-law.

Mumtaz said Ghaffar had burned their clothes and they had had to cover themselves with sheets to return home. On the way they heard celebratory drum beats and loudspeaker announcements saying that Ghaffar's honour had been avenged.

Ghaffar and members of the council have made no comment but one of his brothers said on Thursday that the women had only been stripped and not raped.

The two women were to be medically examined on Friday in a Multan hospital.

In a notorious case two years ago that highlighted the plight of women in rural areas, four men were sentenced to death for a gang rape authorised by another central Punjab village council.

Two council members accused of abetting the crime also received the death sentence while eight other council members were tried and acquitted.

Their appeals are still before the courts.

[JSingh]

ALL OF THE PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THIS INCIDENCE, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, SHOULD BE GIVEN DEATH PENALTY.

THIS IS SHAME!!!!!!!!!!! :umm: @ :D @ @ :wub: @ :D @

[Guest mehtab]

AGREED

I SECOND THAT

:v :g :v :g :v :g :v :g :v :g

[V]

:umm: @ :D @ @

DEATH PENELTY?

NAH THEY SHOULD BE LOCKED INTPO CAGES IN ROOMS OF TOTAL DAKNESS, AND THINK OF WHAT THEY'VE DONE :wub: @

[smartsingh24]

Soulless B@$+@**$

[Gurjeet_Kaur]

"How can I show my face now? Either I will jump in a well or take some poison," said tearful 16-year-old Mumtaz Mai, recalling her ordeal last month.

16 years old?!?!?

:'(

[Gupat Singhni]

I am speechless. :umm:

All I can say is that it is a big paap to think of dishonouring a woman, let alone actually participating in the act..

May guru sahib bring these perpetrators to justice!

[Guest balwinderkaur]

sick sick sick.. :umm: this is horrid. but its true, women are just mere pawns and toys for these people to play with. what a bummer.

[Khalsa4ever]

vwihgurU jI kw Kwlsw!

vwihgurU jI kI &iqh!!

:umm: Its the most pathetic degredation of humanity ever... ordering the rape of the daughter of the person who had the illicit relations??!

Sometimes I feel that the death penality should be used for people like this... and not those nice little die-easy serums... something over a few hours :D

vwihgurU jI kw Kwlsw!

vwihgurU jI kI &iqh!!