ATTIYA INAYATULLAH

The Minister was commenting on a case where a 28 year old Punjab woman of low family status was sentenced by a Pakistani court to be gang raped in front of her father. The offence for which she was punished was that her younger brother age 11 had been found in the presence of a 20 year old daughter of a wealthy and high status family. The male members of the high status family beat and sodomized the young boy and then appealed to the tribal court for justice and defense of their family honor which the court granted by sentencing the daughter so the other family’s honor would be besmirched. The Pakistani national government, after outcries throughout the world, declared the punishment illegal. They named a school after the victim, Mukhtaran Bibi, and arrested the rapists. However the rapists were not charged with a capital crime according to Pakistan law and traditional Muslim law, Sharia.

The Minister was commenting on a case where a 28 year old Punjab woman of low family status was sentenced by a Pakistani court to be gang raped in front of her father. The offence for which she was punished was that her younger brother age 11 had been found in the presence of a 20 year old daughter of a wealthy and high status family. The male members of the high status family beat and sodomized the young boy and then appealed to the tribal court for justice and defense of their family honor which the court granted by sentencing the daughter so the other family’s honor would be besmirched. The Pakistani national government, after outcries throughout the world, declared the punishment illegal. They named a school after the victim, Mukhtaran Bibi, and arrested the rapists. However the rapists were not charged with a capital crime according to Pakistan law and traditional Muslim law, Sharia.