Kesher Talk

Our Friends the Pakistanis: An AP story reports that there is growing outrage at the gang rape of an 18 year old girl whose 11 year old brother was seen walking unchaperoned with a girl from a tribe considered higher-caste. But check out this quote from the story:

"Pakistan has a tradition of tribal justice in which crimes or affronts to dignity are punished outside the framework of Pakistani law. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has demanded an end to punishments by tribal councils. Police say the tribal verdict was illegal, and that they have detained eight relatives of the suspects to pressure the perpetrators into surrendering."

HELLO? If it's wrong to punish an innocent girl for the crime(?) of her brother, isn't it also wrong to imprison eight innocent relatives of the suspects? Why hasn't the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan protested the penal system in their country? It's called moral clarity and the Pakistanis had better figure out what it is.But read a little further in the article. They paid the girl's family off and:

"Attiya Inayatullah, Pakistan's women's' affairs minister, visited the family Thursday to hand over the compensation check. She said President Pervez Musharraf had ordered that an Islamic religious school be built in the village in the victim's name."

Islamic school? I wonder if they'll teach the part of Islam that sentences rape victims to death by stoning, like this woman. Shame on every person involved in this. Except the rape victim, she's been shamed enough.

UPDATE: The New York Times reported on July 12: "The public gang rape of a woman in Punjab province appears to have begun with another crime: three higher-caste tribesman sodomized her 11-year-old brother, then tried to cover up what they had done, an investigation shows. The boy had even been locked up in a cell by the police to prevent him from reporting on the three men, according to an investigation from the province's governor, Lt. Gen. Khalid Maqbool."

posted by Rami @ 7/04/2002 09:33:03 PM