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| India-Pakistan |
| Revenge rapes continue in Pak |
| 2006-10-18 |
| KABIRWALA: Pursuing justice is not easy for a woman in Pakistan, not if the crime is rape. Ghazala Shaheen knows. Two years ago, relatives say, an uncle eloped with a woman from a higher social caste. The revenge by the woman's family was the rape of Shaheen, she and relatives charge, after a gang of men raided her father's home and abducted her and her mother in late August. It is not uncommon in Pakistan for women to suffer callous vendettas for the wrongdoings of their male relatives. That was the case for Shaheen, a 24-year-old from a poor family who had nonetheless managed to earn a master's degree in education. She says she wants to be a teacher. Under what are known as the Hudood laws in Pakistan, a woman must produce four witnesses to prove rape. A failure to do so can result in her becoming a victim twice over, and being charged for adultery. The stigma alone is enough to keep many women from trying to bring their attackers to justice. Human rights advocates have repeatedly called for the repeal of the Hudood laws, which were enacted by the country's last military dictator, Gen Zia ul Haq, in 1979. President Pervez Musharraf has vowed to introduce amendments to the laws, but critics say his efforts have been halfhearted. Under pressure from hard-line clerics, Musharraf's government delayed passage of a proposed law in September that would have allowed rape to be tried in civil courts, where a rape victim needs only to provide a medical witness and other evidence. In 2002, the case of Mukhtaran Mai became a cause célèbre of human rights advocates after she was ordered gang raped by a village council to avenge her brother's supposed misconduct. Despite the outcry, lesser-known cases, like Shaheen's, continue to emerge with regularity as the laws go unchanged. Shaheen recounted her ordeal at an uncle's home in Kabirwala. The abductors held Shaheen and her mother for 11 days. Both said they were beaten. "I was raped by two men," said Shaheen, with moist eyes ringed by dark circles. One of her rapists, she said, was from the rival clan. She did not know the other one. |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |
| #4 Paging Loreena Bobbit! |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-10-18 14:13 |
| #3 To cut some slack on those nice pakistanese primitives, I think it's also a problem in rural India, but I'll let the local scholars, namely Mr. John and possibly Mr. Moloney, comment on that. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-10-18 11:18 |
| #2 The demon allan is at it again. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2006-10-18 10:51 |
| #1 And this is what our world will be like if we don't identify the enemy, Islam, and eliminate it. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-10-18 10:19 |