The Guardian :
Pakistani police have arrested 20 members of a village council for allegedly ordering the rape of a teenager as punishment for a rape committed by her brother.
The incident occurred earlier this month in the neighbourhood of Raja Ram in Muzaffarabad, a suburb of the central city of Multan.
The 17-year-old victim is the sister of a man suspected in the rape of a 13-year-old girl earlier this month. The perpetrator of the second rape is believed to be the brother of the first victim.
Local police chief Ahsan Younus told Associated Press a search for both
men was under way. He said the case was first reported to a women’s rights centre in Multan. Jirgas, or village councils formed of local elders, are a traditional means of settling disputes in Pakistan’s rural areas, where courts and lawyers are not always accessible or trusted.
But such councils are illegal and have been under fire for their controversial decisions, especially regarding women. Allah Baksh, a local police official, told Agence France-Presse the jirga was approached by a man who complained that his sister had been raped by their cousin.
The council then ordered the complainant to rape the sister of the accused in return, Baksh said – an order which was duly carried out. The allegations were confirmed by Rashid Taheem, the police officer heading the investigation.
“Both the parties had filed cases of rape against each other at the local police station after the incident that happened last week,” he said. Such “honour” crimes are still common in some rural Pakistani areas. A village council in 2002 ordered the gang rape of Mukhtar Mai, a young woman who took her rapists to court. The case gathered international prominence and she later opened a school for rural girls.
Her story inspired an opera, Thumbprint, which opened in New York in 2014 and premiered in Los Angeles last month.
Pakistani police have arrested 20 members of a village council for allegedly ordering the rape of a teenager as punishment for a rape committed by her brother.
The incident occurred earlier this month in the neighbourhood of Raja Ram in Muzaffarabad, a suburb of the central city of Multan.
The 17-year-old victim is the sister of a man suspected in the rape of a 13-year-old girl earlier this month. The perpetrator of the second rape is believed to be the brother of the first victim.
Local police chief Ahsan Younus told Associated Press a search for both
men was under way. He said the case was first reported to a women’s rights centre in Multan. Jirgas, or village councils formed of local elders, are a traditional means of settling disputes in Pakistan’s rural areas, where courts and lawyers are not always accessible or trusted.
But such councils are illegal and have been under fire for their controversial decisions, especially regarding women. Allah Baksh, a local police official, told Agence France-Presse the jirga was approached by a man who complained that his sister had been raped by their cousin.
The council then ordered the complainant to rape the sister of the accused in return, Baksh said – an order which was duly carried out. The allegations were confirmed by Rashid Taheem, the police officer heading the investigation.
“Both the parties had filed cases of rape against each other at the local police station after the incident that happened last week,” he said. Such “honour” crimes are still common in some rural Pakistani areas. A village council in 2002 ordered the gang rape of Mukhtar Mai, a young woman who took her rapists to court. The case gathered international prominence and she later opened a school for rural girls.
Her story inspired an opera, Thumbprint, which opened in New York in 2014 and premiered in Los Angeles last month.
