|
In this issue:
|
 |
September
2002  |
||||
|
|||||
|
Meerwala, Pakistan: As punishment for her 11-year old brother who is charged with illicit sex, a young women was brutally gang raped to shame her family. The charge against the young boy's was made because he was seen walking unchaperoned with a girl from a different tribe. Shortly after the verdict was read, four members of the council took turns raping the 18-year old sister in a mud hut while hundreds of people stood outside laughing and cheering. The young women told the Associated Press, "I touched their feet. I wept. I cried. I said, I taught the holy Quran 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 fact that a tribal council ruled gang rape as a punishment has shocked Pakistan. Historically Pakistan has a tradition of tribal justice in which crimes or affronts to dignity are punished outside the framework of Pakistani law. The June 22 rape has outraged rights groups, who say the number of atrocities against women in Pakistan is increasing. This year so far, there have been 72 gang rapes and 93 other rapes documented in densely populated Punjab Province alone, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. As a result, the Commission has demanded an end to punishments by tribal councils. The case has prompted an outpouring of calls for the government to crack down on this type of tribal and Islamic law. Due to the unwanted attention of this case the government has taken extraordinary steps both to punish the suspects and to prevent something similar from happening elsewhere. Six men have now been arrested in the gang rape and face the death penalty. A contingent of heavily armed soldiers now guards the woman and her family. The nation's military ruler sent her 8,300 rupees (approximately $140) as compensation. The Government has promised the village a paved road, electricity, a permanent police outpost and a school to be named for the woman, where she will be a teacher according to the Associated Press. But Human Rights officials say it is too early to say whether a government with so many problems also has the will to improve the plight of poor women and the ability to monitor methods of tribal justice. For more information:
|
|||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|