anti-caste

PAKISTAN: GANG RAPE OF TEENAGE GIRL AS HONOR PUNISHMENT OF FAMILY

Girl raped and paraded naked (Daily Times, Pakistan)

"The police have arrested six men who allegedly raped a teenage girl and forced her to parade naked through a village in a so-called 'honour punishment', officials said Wednesday.

"The men kidnapped the 16-year-old girl in Habib Labalo village in southern Sindh province on Saturday because her cousin had an affair with a woman from their family, local police officer Aftab Farooqi told AFP."

See also:

Pakistani rape victim says attacks increasing (Reuters, February 1, 2007)

"Mukhtaran Mai, who was gang-raped in 2002 on the orders of a traditional village council, said she was appalled by a similar attack on a 16-year-old girl at the weekend.

"'Such inhuman acts are increasing in Pakistan as the government is not sincere about punishing offenders,' Mai told Reuters on Thursday.

"'When I read about this girl's ordeal, I felt the work we have done for women in the last four years was for nothing,' she said."

See anti-caste: MUKHTAR MAI: EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF A LOW-CASTE PEASANT WOMAN WHO STOOD UP (January 29, 2007)

MUKHTAR MAI: EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF A LOW-CASTE PEASANT WOMAN WHO STOOD UP

After being gang raped by her village elders, Mukhtar fought back... (Telegraph (UK))

"Mukhtar and her family are from the lowly Gujar caste and are expected to be subservient to the Mastoi. She thought that she was being asked, as a respectable woman, to speak to the village elders on behalf of her brother. As Mukhtar, accompanied by her father, Ghulam Farid Jat, an uncle and a family friend, approached the mosque, she could see a large gathering of men outside. This was the panchayat, the village council. What she didn't know was that it had been taken over by the Mastoi men, who had resolved that to appease the honour of their caste, she must be raped in revenge for what they claimed was the rape of one of their women by Shakur."

See also:
Breaking the silence: review of Mukhtar Mai's new memoir, In The Name of Honor (The Asian News.co.uk, February 9)

Mukhtar Mai: history of a rape case (BBC News, June 28, 2005)

And see anti-caste article: Muslims and Caste

CASTEIST, ANTI-WOMAN ATROCITY BY HENCHMAN OF PAKISTANI MINISTER

Pakistani graduate raped to punish her low-caste family (London Times)

"A young Pakistani woman has been kidnapped, raped and beaten by a gang of high-caste villagers because her uncle eloped with one of their relatives. She was chosen for punishment because she had recently gained a degree and was the pride of her low-caste family.

[...]

"Last week human rights campaigners said Shaheen was unlikely to see her attackers brought to justice because President Pervez Musharraf had failed in an attempt to repeal the Hudood Ordinance, which requires four male Muslim witnesses to support a rape charge. If the accused is acquitted, the victim becomes liable to prosecution for adultery.

"While Musharraf was out of the country earlier this month, a committee of hardline Islamic scholars neutered his bill to protect women’s rights which would have repealed the Hudood Ordinance. The scholars claimed the bill was un-Islamic because it 'encouraged adultery'.

"Shaheen’s ordeal began last month when 11 armed men, believed to be security guards employed by one of Musharraf’s ministers, forced their way into her home, attacked her father and brothers and pulled her and her mother into the street."

See also:

Vendetta Rapes Continue as Pakistan Resists Change (New York Times, October 4, 2006):

"Since then, Ms. Shaheen’s ambitions have been shattered, and it is she who suffers scorn for the rape. She says she feels helpless. The school where she was to teach has refused to accept her.

"'They said they can’t accept me as it is a matter of their repute now,' Ms. Shaheen said."

And see:

PAKISTAN: Police and government henchmen abducted and confined a mother and a girl for 12 days (Asian Human Rights Commission, September 7, 2006)