July 28, 2017

An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth

located:	Pakistan
editor:	Shadi Khan Saif

In a second gruesome incident of the sort, a local elders’ council in Pakistan’s Punjab province ordered rape of a girl in revenge of a rape allegedly committed by her brother.

The incident took place earlier this week in Multan city not far away from the spot where the infamous ‘Mukhtara Mai Gang rape’ took place on the directives of a similar elders’ council in 2002. Mai braved all the disgrace and fear that are associated with a rape victim in conservative Pakistan to went on and become global icon against rape. She was celebrated worldwide, also hailed by many in Pakistan for her courage to stand-up and speak against the ‘panchayat’ (village council) systems that is based on outdated tribal norms, but all that failed to put an end to the miseries of young women and girls even in her own village let alone the whole country.

As per the police report details, the elders’ council – comprising at least 40 men – was convened in Muzaffarabad's Rajpur in the country’s biggest Punjab province after a 12-year-old girl was raped by a man while cutting grass in a field on July 16. Two days later on July 18, the ‘panchayat’ ordered the victim’s brother to rape 17-year-old sister of the accused. According to the police, the girl was dragged to the area where the ‘panchayat’ was convened and was raped before the men and her parents.

After the incident, the parents of victim filed a police report on July 20, while a second report was filed on July 24 by accused family, who had initially wished to keep the matter quiet. After the cases were registered, the police started investigations and arrested 20 of the council's members, including the head of the ‘panchayat’ who gave the order. Search operations for the remaining men are underway.

If Delhi is called as the ‘rape capital of India’ by the concerned citizens of that country due to the high rate of rapes, such decisions of the so-called-elders in Pakistan equally demonstrate the sick mentality that see women and girls as senseless objects for men’s pleasure rather than souls with feelings and emotions.