What is happening to women in the Islamic paradise of Pakistan

Sindh Taraqipasand Party Workers Gang Rape a 13-Year Old
Miss Fauzia Khaskheli, 13 years old, daughter of Mukhtar Khaskheli, resident of TandoAllahyar, Sindh, was abducted and gang raped on May 29, 2014, during an entire night by six notorious criminals who are wanted by the police in more than 30 cases and they have been given head money from government of Sindh for their arrests – dead or alive.
The place of gang rape incident was not far away from the A Section police station Tando Allahyar but her cries did not attract the police attention. Next day in early morning she was thrown near the Railway line at NasarpurPhatak.
The girl was in dilapidated conditioned which infuriated villagers who have protested outside the police station. There were more than 200 people there,but police officials at the A Section police station have been more concerned about the perpetrators as they belong to a nationalist cum political party, the Sindh Taraqipasand Party (STP).
The SHO Sohail Mirza filed the First Information Report (FIR) under sections of 376 (B)-364 (B)-324-and 337 of Pakistan Penal Code, the sections on gang rape, forcibly kidnapping, attempt to murder, and causing hurt. The medical report confirmed gang rape.
In the meantime the victim, Fauzia, was produced before the local magistrate for the statement under section 164 and also to identify the accused persons. She identified the rapists by seeing their photographs.
The perpetrators also demonstrated outside the court. When police reached the scene all ran away as they were wanted in more than 30 cases. According to reports , the perpetrators have also threatened the victim and her father that if they do not withdraw the rape case the girl would again face similar consequences and might not survive.
The police are working on the instructions of one Altaf Jaskani, the vice president of STP as his younger brother, Asad Jaskani, was also involved in the gang rape. Asad Jaskani runs notorious groups, extorting money from businessmen and police. The FIR for gang rape mentions the name of Azher Jatoi, Shakeel Khoso, Asad Jaskani, Abdullah Nayo and Gullan Jogi alias Gulla Jogi.

A 17-Year-Old Girl Buried Alive For Marrying By Her Own Choice
Sughra Brohi, 17, a resident of Jhol, Sanghar district, had married Muhammad Ali Khaskheli, a resident of Badin district, of her own choice, three months ago and shifted to Badin with her in laws.
She was buried alive on the instructions of a Jirga. She was buried in a Hindu graveyard and not in a Muslim graveyard as it was felt she had betrayed Islam.
The local police have not registered a case of murder against the perpetrators but instead deputed the security guards on the grave so that people cannot visit.
The parents of the girl are involved in arranging the murder of their daughter.
The boy, Ali Khaskheli, was a three wheeler driver and shifted to Mirpurkhas city from Badin, his ancestor’s village to get employment. He was running his eight seater three wheeler for the pick and drop of school students. During that time they fell in love with each other and decided to marry in Badin city. This was out of fear that the tribe and the parents of the girl will not tolerate the marriage and kill them in the name of an honour killing.
After learning about their marriage the elders of Brohi tribe were not happy and regarded it as usurping the pride of the caste by marrying with Khaskheli caste.
Some three weeks ago the tribal elders pursued the parents of the girl and asked them to bring their daughter back and she would not be punished. Later on, she was forced to return by her family with the assurance on the Quran that she would not be harmed.
After her return a Jirga was held which was presided over by her uncle, Nazar Muhammad Brohi, which decided to punish her by burying her alive.
The elders and her father decided that she did not deserve a burial in a Muslim graveyard and according to a newspaper, the Kawish, they dug a hole in Bheel’s graveyard of the Hindu religion near Jhol police station in village Hakim Mari, near Sanjhoro and in midnight buried her alive in village Hakim Khan Marri, Taluka Sanjhoro, district Sanghar. Her cries did not stop the elders, her father and uncles from this heinous act.
Even after 15 days the police did not take the action as they thought the action was justified according to tribal norms and Islamic teachings.
The father of the girl approached the police and filed a FIR in Jhol police station, district Sanghar, for the murder of his daughter when he could not bargain with the tribal elders for blood money (Diyat).
The whereabouts of the boy is still not known and it is feared that he might have been killed.
The honour killing of girls is common in the rural areas of Sindh where the feudal social system is intact and takes lot of pride in its so-called tolerant culture. The main reason for the honour killing is to deny the women and their husband their share from the properties. Though there is a law through which has declared honour killings as intentional murder but because of the poor rule of law and patriarchal attitude of the administration and government functionaries the menace of honour killings continues unabated.
Father Rapes His Daughter & Then Kills Her in Gujrat
By Nida Paras
From the early ages in Pakistan women have lived in a society which is anti-women where they are treated as unwanted creatures.
Pakistan is a country where violations against women are the highest and conditions become even more alarming as women are discriminated against on the basis of gender even before birth. Women in Pakistan suffer atrocities such as honor killings, acid throwing, domestic violence, torture, forced labour, forced marriages, sexual assault and sexual harassment as a norm.
One such case is that of Sofia Safdar of Gujrat. A few days ago Mr. Safdar Hussain, Sofia’s father raped his own daughter and after that the family poisoned her. This incident occurred in the Nawan Kot Village of the Gujrat district of Punjab. It came to light when Sobia Amaan, a friend of the victim, sent a letter to the Chief Justice, Umer Ata Bandial of the Lahore High Court based on the information regarding the incident.
According to Sobia, her friend Sofia Safdar had been sexually harassed by her father and when she revealed the situation to her family members, her mother, brother and grandmother did not pay any attention and refused to take her side. After that she left her home and shifted towards Gulshane Ravi in Lahore where her relatives sent several messages assuring her that it would not happen again and that she should return home. She did so on May 30, 2013 and after just two days, on June 2, she was dead, poisoned by her relatives and buried secretly in a local graveyard. Her relatives did not file any case against her father.
This incident exposes the religious traditions in Pakistan and the fact that ‘honour’ is more important to the family than the knowledge that a father raped his daughter. Not one of the family members, the mother, siblings, the grandmother and all the other close relatives stood up for the victim and punished the father for such a heinous crime. Instead, the easiest solution was to kill Sofia and bury her in secret so that the family’s shame would be buried, in secret, with her.
Their first priority was to protect the honour of the family and secondly to take the shelter behind religious tradition. The rapist was provided protection by his wife and siblings to murder Sofia in order to hide his crime. The murder of the daughter in the name of honour was, in fact, not to uphold the religious traditions but to reinforce the concept that women are the only source of sexual corruption and therefore it is only the woman that is liable for punishment and not the rapist. The rapist was the bread winner of the family and the victim was dependent on him and therefore liable to be murdered.
Similar cases of honor killings are now a common occurrence in Muslim and Pakistani communities of the west. Despite being welcomed into their adoptive countries they have made no effort to accept the enlightened norms of those societies. Muslims generally allow any crime by their men to be ignored as a birth right but cannot accept the fact that their women also have rights. This outdated attitude does not even spare their daughters from being raped by their fathers.
We cannot accept the fact that crimes are being done in the name of honour and religion and remain silent on such issues because of the restrictions on the freedom of expression
These incidents are common in Pakistan and every day a number of women become prey to the perpetrators as they are considered weak and totally dependent upon others. According to the great philosopher and human rights advocate, Mary Wollstonecraft, “I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves.”
It is a sad indictment of Pakistani society that not one religious group or party has raised their voices demanding justice for Sofia and the punishment of the family and the father who was supposed to protect her. This is quite simply because they do not consider violence against women to be a crime.
Nida Paras is working on the youth issues in Pakistan and is office bearer of Progressive Youth Forum, she can be reached at; nida@ahrc.asia
Two Young Sisters Raped by the Police in Sindh
Two young sisters, Najma (18) and Asma (20), daughters of the late Ali Hasan Rajput, were taken into custody in the late hours of October 8, 2013 by Sub Inspector Abdullah Awan, the SHO of Khambarha police station, district Ghotki, Sindh province. He was assisted by Head Constable Abdul Razzak and Constable Arbelo.
At the time of the police raid the elder brother, Noor Hasan, was not at home and police said they were taking both the sisters as hostages for his surrender as he is wanted in a four-year old case of abduction for ransom.
On the first night of abduction, both sisters were raped in the police station and during the next two days they were raped in a private house. One sister was spared for one day as her monthly menses started. The father of the sisters is deceased and the brother was doing a job in Karachi, 500 kilometers from their home. The young women were taken care of by their uncle.
During all the three days the uncle visited the police station and SHO. He was constantly advised that the police are conducting investigations so they would be released soon. The uncle was never allowed to meet his nieces. After three days their uncle went to an influential landlord, Mr. Liaquat, and requested his help to get the two victims released. As Mr. Liaquat spoke with the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Abdul Salam Sheikh, he pressured the SHO to release the victims. The women were released in the afternoon of October 11 following which they told their uncle that they had been gang raped both at the police station and in a private house.
The brother of the victims hired a lawyer, Mr. Solangi, who filed a case of gang rape in custody before a Session’s Court and the media started providing coverage on the news. The Session Court judge ordered the SSP to conduct an inquiry into the charge of gang rape. However, the SSP immediately told the SHO to make some excuse to avoid the charges of rape in custody and also to stop the government hospital from giving a medical report supporting the allegation of rape.
Immediately SHO Awan filed a case against the sisters for abetting in a case of abduction for ransom. However the media, particularly the Geo TV, immediately reported the case and interviewed the victims. This was promplty picked up by other media houses. The civil society also came out in support of the victims and started agitating for the arrest of the rapists and the production of a medical report. The lawyer filed an application for medical checkups in the Session Court which was granted. The lady doctor confirmed the rape but the official report has yet not been released due to the influence of the high police officers of the district.
The police have arrested SHO Awan and Head Constable Abdul Razzak on October 13 whereas the third perpetrator, Constable Arbelo remains at large. One member of the Sindh provincial assembly, Jam Mehtab Dahar, has come out in support of the perpetrators and is using the government machinery to provide help to the SHO. It is said that the SHO assisted him in the general elections to get the seat of the MPA by stamping the ballot papers after the voting was stopped.
When the police officials were produced before court they were without handcuffs and the SHO was all the time using his two cell phones and enjoying some food. He told the journalists that he will be quickly released, that he knows how to deal with them and that they will face his real treatment. He was also angry with the reporter of Geo TV, Mr. Aslam Malik, and threatened him that he would not be spared. The daily Jang reported that he also announced that this time two girls were raped however, when he is released he will rape all the women of the village.
There is an old case of abduction for ransom which has been pending for four years and the police use this case for extorting money from different people, particularly from religious minority groups.
The Supreme Court has declared that those police officers who were involved in criminal charges cannot be restored to office. SHO Awan is among those police officials but he has a good relationship with the SSP. The other advantage for his appointment as SHO was that the Khambarha is the place where the smuggled oil and petrol from Iran is brought into Pakistan and distributed illegally to different parts of the country at competitive rates. The daily illegal earnings of the Khambarha police station is around Rs. 100,000 and it is distributed among the different tiers of high officers.
Another Father Molesting His Daughter
WAR recently was approached by Zeenat*, a resident of Defense Housing Authority Karachi, and a mother of four children. Zeenat told WAR that on 19thSeptember 2012 she was informed by her 14-year old daughter Mahjabeen*, that herfather had been sexually molesting her for a period of two yearsand that on the16thof September 2012 he sodomized her. Consequently, a medico-legal examination was conducted on the 18thof September, and FIR (456/2012) lodged by Mahjabeen on 20thSeptember 2012.
The matter was set for S164 statements in the Magistrate’s Court, Karachi, on the 26thof September. The same morning WAR’s lawyer was notified by the Investigating Officer (IO) that a bail application had also been enrolled. When WAR’s team arrived at the city court, they were faced by the accused’s legal team, which consisted of Adv. Habib-ur-Rehman (ex-Principal SM Law College) and other senior advocates. The accused and his family being influential people are using all their resources to mount pressure on the prosecution and investigating officers, and will attempt to sabotage this case in any possible way.
The accused’s family members also tried to intimidate the complainant’s mother, and publicly ravished her character in court; saying that she is a fashion designer of bad moral character.
WAR’s Advocate Asia Muneer who is handling the case may be contacted on0321 375 2281. For any otherlogisticalqueries, please contact Rukhsana Siddiqui on0321 827 0073.
Sanaa Rasheed
War Against Rape (WAR), Karachi.

Rangers Gang Rape an 18-Year Old Girl in Sheikhupura
A young girl continues to suffer after she was gang raped by the officials from the Pakistan Rangers and police. The authorities are pressuring her and her family members to compromise with the perpetrators. Her house was attacked with firearms and the henchmen of the perpetrators let it be known that they can blow up the house at will. The police have instigated the neighborhood to hoot at her for having been raped and make rude signs. She tried two times to commit suicide. Her cousin was beaten and seriously injured by the perpetrators to press for settlement with the rapists.
The rape victim and her family are confined inside the house because of their neighbour’s adverse reaction against her.
Miss Nadia Rasool (18), daughter of Ghulam Rasool, resident of Village Ghang District Sheikhupura, Punjab province, a student of inter commerce (grade 11) was raped. On March 18, 2012, at 4:45 pm when she was on way back to her home in village Ghang, a group of five criminals, including two policemen, a government employee and a sepoy of the Pakistan rangers abducted her in a van. She was taken to a deserted place, gang raped and thrown away on the road in the late evening. When she told of her ordeal to her family, instead of consoling her, they reprimanded her. It was difficult for her to survive and she tried to commit suicide twice, but was saved by her mother.
A police case was registered at City Police Station-B Division Sheikhupura and the perpetrators were arrested after the Suo Moto notice by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on March 27, 2012. But two of the perpetrators were released from a lower court on bail by and were later re-arrested by a session court when civil society filed the case. The case is now with the court of additional session judge, Sheikhupura, Jazeela Aslam. The poor family of this girl is under immense pressure from the police and local influential people to withdraw the case and accept compensation. They are constantly receiving life threats from the accused.
She was re-victimized not only by the society but also by the police officials’ insensitive attitude while handling such cases. In the last week of April, Police officials took her from Sheikhupura to Lahore (70 Km away) for DNA tests along with three of the rapists in the same vehicle; and there was no female constable with them during the journey and the medical test in the hospital. Clubbing the victim together with the perpetrators during traveling was meant to place immense psychological pressure on her. However, with the support of local civil society and women rights activists; the social and political pressure is being resisted so far.
Since then Nadia is struggling to return to a normal life and her family is facing immense social and financial problems. The entire family is completely shattered. Her father, Ghulam Rasool, a factory worker and sole bread earner of the family has lost his job after three months and later could only get a job as a daily wage earner. During the period of his unemployment the younger brother of the rape victim, Master Imran (16), sold himself to a dairy farm owner for Rs 50,000 (USD 540) where he is working 24 hours a day. He is given half an hour each for lunch and dinner at his house. Her cousin brother was beaten by the henchmen of the perpetrators to compel them to accept the settlement. He received eight stitches in his eye brows and two fingers of his right hand were fractured. He was kept bound in ropes for many hours at the place of Chaudry’s dera. He was released when his mother with the police reached the place. But the police have not taken any action against Chaudry for keeping him in illegal detention and injuring him.
Nadia, once a shining student of first year is unable to continue her studies and restrained within the four walls of the house. Highly frustrated, she does not know how to subsist her family, how to restart her studies and contest her case in the court. She desperately needs financial support. She could not appear before the annual examination which was held in the month of June and it has become difficult for her to continue her education. The police of the area and the perpetrators have created such an environment against her that she could not go outside the house. Her younger sister who worked as a maid to earn some money also had to leave her job and school as gangsters of the perpetrators pressured the employers and school teachers that as her sister was gang raped she has become a filthy woman. Nadia says that “I want justice and will pursue my case. I wish to continue my education. I have to leave my village now due to the constant threats from the accused parties and social pressure from relatives and neighbors.”
On the instructions of the Inspector General of Police, the local authorities have provided her police guards outside her residence but they are also pressuring the family members to enter into a settlement with the perpetrators as they are powerful people and no one can fight with police and rangers. But she and her family are determined to fight for justice despite the provincial government being very indifferent on her efforts to get justice.
Complainant of 14-year old’s Gang Rape Killed in Sindh
In 2010, a 14-year-old girl was gang-raped by eight armed men in presence of the Johi police, Dadu district, Sindh province.
After the incident of gang-rape the chief justice of Sindh High Court took action and asked the police to file cases against the rapists. It was only then that the administration allowed the filing of the FIR after transferring some police officials.
But these efforts by the administration did not help the victim and her family members. After two years of the gang rape the police have arrested only one person and other persons received bail from the courts because of the weak case from the prosecution. The perpetrators, with the patronage of the police and tribal leader, Dattal Jamali and Rafiq Jamali, a member of the National Assembly from the ruling party, the Pakistan People’s Party and former chief of the town, Zakir Khan Jamali, were using all possible pressure on the family of the victim and villagers.
Mr. Ghulam Mustafa Laghari, the uncle of the rape victim, was gunned down on March 28 when he was going to Johi, sub district from his village. He was the complainant in the FIR regarding the case of gang rape of Zulekha and named the rapists. He was attacked by the same accused persons who were mentioned in the police case. The attackers were on motor bikes and they sprayed him with bullets. The names of the killers are: Ali Hassan Laghari, Ayube, Allah Ditto, Mehboob Jamali, Umer Jamali, Aslam Laghari and Ibrahim Laghari. The deceased was attacked on two earlier occasions in February and March 2012. His cousin Mr. Rustam and nephew Mr. Muhammad Usman were also attacked by the perpetrators and were injured.
The deceased, Ghulam Mustafa Laghari, was pressured many times by a member of the National Assembly and a tribal leader to withdraw the cases against the perpetrators but he refused. Just 10 days before his murder he was attacked with fire arms and was injured. The local police refused to file any case against the perpetrators. In the case of the gang rape eight persons including Ghulam Mustafa Laghari had submitted their statements before the session court. The statements from Ghulam and Zulekha were very important in the case which proved the involvement of the perpetrators in the gang rape. One investigation officer of the police, assistant sub inspector Sain Rakhio of Johi police station also recorded his statement and he testified that all the perpetrators were involved. This provoked the members of the national assembly, tribal leaders and perpetrators to attack and kill the complainant to send a message to the family members of the victim to withdraw the cases against them. To-date the police have not filed a case regarding the murder of Ghulam Mustafa.
In the cases of gang rape it is observed that the close relatives of the victims who were actively following the cases were gunned downed by the perpetrators after released on the bail from the courts. In the case of Kainat Soomro, 13 year, who was gang raped in 2007, her brother was gunned down when he was trevelling to Balochistan province by the same perpetrators. In another case of Uzma Ayub, who was raped in the custody for one year by the police officials and one army soldier, her brother was also gunned downed in the Peshawar high court premises in year 2012.

Incest Continues in Pakistan
Sonia Rani (18), daughter of late Mohammad Sadiq, a resident of Miandadkot, Hafizabad, Punjab Province was continuously raped for five years in the captivity of her stepfather, Mohammad Ramzan, a well known police tout of the area.
Her mother Naseem Bibi was married to the perpetrator Ramzan after the death of Sonia’s father.
A report was made at the city police station of Hafizabad concerning the rape. Sonia has stated that she was forced to have three abortions which were carried out by different midwives. She was threatened by the perpetrator not to talk about the matter with anyone otherwise she would face dire consequences. When Sonia’s mother came to know that her daughter has been raped by her stepfather she arranged her marriage to a boy when Sonia was 3 months pregnant.
On 1 April 2012 when she reported to the City police station, the Station Head Officer (SHO) and other police officials warned her not to file the case against their tout but told her that if she had the same relationship with them then her case would be filed. After agitation from the local people the police was compelled to file a First Information Report (FIR) on 6 April, however the police are reluctant to take action against the perpetrator. He has been taken into custody and is enjoying the facilities of the police in the lock up but has not yet been formerly arrested. Instead, police are forcing the victim and her in-laws to reach a settlement with the rapist and withdraw the complaint against him.
She further stated that several times she tried to prevent her stepfather from raping her but he always threatened her that he will kill her and her mother also.
When she tried to report the crime Sonia was sexually harassed and abused by the police who used filthy language. The police are insisting that she withdraw her case and not file an FIR against Mohammad Ramzan.
Woman Kidnapped, Raped & Placed in Brothel in Karachi
Ms. Parveen Bibi, daughter of Molazim Hussain, a maid by profession, belongs to a poor family of Rahimyar Khan,Punjab province. Her father lost his eyesight ago in an accident. Parveen, with her mother was working as a domestic servant to run their household affairs. Increasing inflation, day to day expenses and reduced income dejected Parveen, she asked her maternal uncle to seek any reasonable job for her and, accompanied by her mother, came to Karachi to earn money and support her ailing father.
She started working in a school located in Gulistan-e-Johar,Karachi, where she was paid Rs. 3,000.00 per month. Things were going well until she met with a lady named Rabiya, alias Natasha who offered her to work as maid in her home at Rs. 4000.00 per month. Parveen accepted her offer and her mother, Shamshad Bibi, handed her over Rabiya and returned to Rahimyar Khan to see her ailing husband.
Rabiya runs a brothel at her home in the name of a beauty parlour named “Midas Beauty Parlour”.
Parveen was an attractive and beautiful young woman, which encouraged Rabiya to use her as a sex slave. Initially Parveen was supposed to work in the day time but gradually that lady increased her working hours, sometimes she was not allowed to go back home.
Rabiya’s unreasonable demands grew more and more day by day.
Parveen was not allowed to go home for days at a stretch and was not even allowed to make calls.
Rabiya started taking her to the beauty parlour and forced her to wear revealing clothing.
The increasing favours and extraordinary behaviour baffled Parveen but she had to stay there as she needed the money.
Parveen had no idea that the sweet conduct was only a façade. Eventually Parveen realised what Rabiya had in mind for her but by then it was too late. Many times she tried to run away but every time she was stopped by the armed watchman.
One unfortunate night she was led to a room where she was raped by a man who paid Rs. 50,000.00 to Rabiya. When she resisted Parveen was brutally abused and assaulted.
This went on for some time and she was raped by 10-15 men every week. Whenever she tried to resist she was made to drink alcohol or forced to ingest sleeping pills. She was then sold off to a pimp named Shakir Hussain; who assaulted and raped her and used her for many awful activities for more than a year in a flat in Qayumabad.
He sold her off many times to various people from the neighborhood and if she resisted in any way she was beaten. After some time Parveen lost all hope. She had accepted her fate, and would move without a word from one place to another with her kidnappers.
While Parveen was going through her ordeal her family, including her uncle Altaf Hussain, were searching for her anxiously. When Parveen’s mother came back from Rahimyar Khan on 8 October 2010, she went to see her daughter at Rabiya’s house and found her missing.
On being questioned, Rabiya said that she knew nothing about Parveen except that she ran away and got married to someone.
They approached to the Sachal Police Station to register their complaints but the ASI Ahmed Ali Shah refused to take the case after accepting Rs. 20,000.00 from the perpetrator. This left Altaf Hussain with no place to turn to in order to save his niece from more humiliation. Initially the police was reluctant to enroll their case, but after persuasive efforts by Altaf Hussain on 14 October 2010 they registered an FIR against Rabiya alias Natasha.
Despite the passing of several days the police made no progress in the case. Eventually some five months after Parveen’s kidnapping, Altaf managed to convince a police officer to at least come with him to Rabiya’s home. On reaching there, she informed them that Parveen had stolen valuable artifacts from her and then run away.
On 9 October 2011 at around 12am, almost one year later, Altaf Hussain received a telephone call from his niece. She informed him that she has got married on her own will and requested him not to bother Rabiya about her. However, she was crying badly and refused to say anything more before hanging up the phone. Altaf found out the details of the public booth from where Parveen made the call and came to know that she had been accompanied by a woman and four men. He then went to Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) to seek help. He met with Mr. Ahmed Chanai; Chief of CPLC who called up Rabiya and pressurized her to inform him about Parveen Bibi.
Later Altaf Hussain received a call from an anonymous caller that Parveen had been recovered by officers of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) in a shanty home in Shadman Town of North Nazimabad and was sent back to her home in Rahimyar Khan. Altaf Hussain approached Mr. Chanai to get Parveen medical for further action and was told not to pursue the case. He was told to compromise as the woman has been recovered. The perpetrators, he was told, are very powerful having strong contacts with other influential people so it was better to let it go and if he really wanted to pursue it then he had to do of his own.
Altaf Hussain also received telephone calls from ASI Saleem Cheema to withdraw the case and wind up this issue. Altaf Hussain showed his deep concern and apprehension on this issue. According to him there are around 11-12 woman being held against their will by Rabiya. The police, however, are doing nothing because ASI Ahmed Ali Shah is also equally involved in this case.
Tormented By Stigma After Rape
Alam Din, a street vendor, and his family of six, left suddenly after his 14-year-old daughter was raped by several local youths while on her way home from an evening lesson.
The crime was never reported; Din and his brothers felt to do so would damage family honour and instead Din apparently bundled his family and possessions on to a truck and left in the dead of night for Punjabprovince.
“The girl had to be carried out,” said Aleena Bibi, a neighbour. “She had been injured. It is a tragedy this should happen to a child, but now people also consider the house unlucky and are reluctant to buy.”
Many rapes in Pakistan, due to stigma, are never reported, and there are no precise figures on how many occur. However, the US Department of State, in its 2010 Human Rights Report [ http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt...sca/154485.htm ] states 928 cases of rape were reported.
“Prosecutions of reported rapes were rare. Police and NGOs reported that false rape charges sometimes were filed in different types of disputes, reducing the ability of police to assess real cases and proceed with prosecution,” it said.
“NGOs reported that police at times were implicated in rape cases. NGOs also alleged that police sometimes abused or threatened victims, demanding that they drop charges, especially when police received a bribe from suspected perpetrators.”
HRCP states in its annual report for 2010 that 2,903 women [ http://www.hrcp-web.org/Publications/AR2010.pdf ] – almost eight a day – were raped last year.
The Karachi-based NGO War Against Rape, in a statement released last month, [ http://tribune.com.pk/story/273684/w...-orangi-towns/ ], said data collected from three hospitals and police showed that the average age of victims had fallen from 18 years last year to 13 this year in the city. WAR also noted only a minority of the cases reported from hospitals had been brought to the notice of police.
“The insensitive attitude of police, and the fact that women face further harassment at the hands of police, discourages them from reporting abuse,” Sarah Zaman, director of WAR, said.
There have been some horrendous reports of abuse by police, [ http://www.humanrights.asia/news/ahr...C-STM-078-2010 ] including that of a 13-year-old schoolgirl, Natasha Bibi, raped over 21 days while she was held by police in the northern Punjab town of Wah Cantt.
It is the growing brutalization of our society and its patriarchal nature that allows incidents of this kind to happen..
My daughter, who was only 12 years old at the time, was violently raped last year by her cousin. We did not report the matter to avoid a scandal, and to protect her from stigma. But even now rumours fly, my child refuses to leave my side and says she feels ‘dirty’ and we wonder who will marry her with this dark stain hanging over her,” one Gulab Bibi, 40, said.
In rural areas, the reluctance to report rape runs even deeper. Laiq Muhammad, a farmer in the Khairpur district of Sindh, says his nine-year-old sister was raped by the son of a powerful land-owner in the area. “These people have connections, they would simply bribe the police, and I have daughters and another younger sister’s safety to consider,” he said. “We cannot run the risk of further punishment.
“My sister’s life has changed for ever. She is only a child, but we are powerless to help her,” Muhammad said.
The reluctance to report cases also means the survivors frequently receive no psychological support. A victim of sexual assault needs counselling and help. The fact that in our society she is not even able to talk of the incident in most cases only makes matters worse for the thousands of women who suffer rape each year.
Kidnapped from Bus Stop in Gujranwala & Gang Raped Twice
A woman who was abducted and gang raped for the second time by four armed accused two months ago is now pregnant.
According to police officials, the accused had abducted the victim as punishment for her getting an annulment through a local court in Gopipur-Satrah, Daska.
The victim has now complained that the men who raped her have still not been arrested and she has been receiving death threats.
Gopipur resident Tooba Shams had been kidnapped at gunpoint eleven months ago by four landlords and raped. The men got her to sign blank papers and later tried to seize her property. The papers included a marriage contract and property transfer documents but she had the ‘marriage’ annulled”.
According to the original FIR lodged with the Satrah police station under Section 376-II, Tooba was abducted by four landlords Nadeem Mughal, Rana Bilal, Amir Shafi and Muhammad Sadiq while she was going to a local religious seminary in the village eleven months ago. She recorded a statement saying that the accused took her to a warehouse and gang raped her for a month.
She finally managed to escape them one night and sought protection with a Darul Aman. Then she filed a case with the police and a case for the annulment of the marriage with the courts.
Inspector Farooq Shah said that Tooba had also submitted a medical test proving that she had been gang raped. She was also severely injured and malnourished.
The FIR stated that a local court in Daska had dissolved the ‘marriage’ with accused Nadeem Mughal on May 18, 2011. Tooba had said that she and her mother were standing on a local bus stop at village Gopipur headed forGujranwalaon July 6, 2011, when the accused kidnapped her again and took her to Pasrur, where they gang raped her for three days as punishment for annulling the marriage. “Nadeem told me that I was being punished again because I had thwarted his plans by annulling the marriage. Now I am pregnant with my rapist’s baby and he still hasn’t been arrested,” Tooba said. “The police have registered a case but the accused haven’t been arrested. The courts have granted my divorce but these men are still roaming free. What good is a divorce if they are free to kill me?” Tooba said.


Speaking to reporters, Tooba said that the accused were influential and were still at large in the village. She said that the Satrah police was reluctant to arrest the men because they had political backing. She appealed to CM Shahbaz Sharif, Inspector General of Police Punjab, Gujranwala Regional Police Officer Ahmed Mubarak Ahmed and DPO Sialkot Bilal Sadiq Kamiyana to provide her with justice.

Incest Continues in Pakistan
Sonia Rani (18), daughter of late Mohammad Sadiq, a resident of Miandadkot, Hafizabad, Punjab Province was continuously raped for five years in the captivity of her stepfather, Mohammad Ramzan, a well known police tout of the area.
Her mother Naseem Bibi was married to the perpetrator Ramzan after the death of Sonia’s father.
A report was made at the city police station of Hafizabad concerning the rape. Sonia has stated that she was forced to have three abortions which were carried out by different midwives. She was threatened by the perpetrator not to talk about the matter with anyone otherwise she would face dire consequences. When Sonia’s mother came to know that her daughter has been raped by her stepfather she arranged her marriage to a boy when Sonia was 3 months pregnant.
On 1 April 2012 when she reported to the City police station, the Station Head Officer (SHO) and other police officials warned her not to file the case against their tout but told her that if she had the same relationship with them then her case would be filed. After agitation from the local people the police was compelled to file a First Information Report (FIR) on 6 April, however the police are reluctant to take action against the perpetrator. He has been taken into custody and is enjoying the facilities of the police in the lock up but has not yet been formerly arrested. Instead, police are forcing the victim and her in-laws to reach a settlement with the rapist and withdraw the complaint against him.
She further stated that several times she tried to prevent her stepfather from raping her but he always threatened her that he will kill her and her mother also.
When she tried to report the crime Sonia was sexually harassed and abused by the police who used filthy language. The police are insisting that she withdraw her case and not file an FIR against Mohammad Ramzan.
Woman Kidnapped, Raped & Placed in Brothel in Karachi
Ms. Parveen Bibi, daughter of Molazim Hussain, a maid by profession, belongs to a poor family of Rahimyar Khan,Punjab province. Her father lost his eyesight ago in an accident. Parveen, with her mother was working as a domestic servant to run their household affairs. Increasing inflation, day to day expenses and reduced income dejected Parveen, she asked her maternal uncle to seek any reasonable job for her and, accompanied by her mother, came to Karachi to earn money and support her ailing father.
She started working in a school located in Gulistan-e-Johar,Karachi, where she was paid Rs. 3,000.00 per month. Things were going well until she met with a lady named Rabiya, alias Natasha who offered her to work as maid in her home at Rs. 4000.00 per month. Parveen accepted her offer and her mother, Shamshad Bibi, handed her over Rabiya and returned to Rahimyar Khan to see her ailing husband.
Rabiya runs a brothel at her home in the name of a beauty parlour named “Midas Beauty Parlour”.
Parveen was an attractive and beautiful young woman, which encouraged Rabiya to use her as a sex slave. Initially Parveen was supposed to work in the day time but gradually that lady increased her working hours, sometimes she was not allowed to go back home.
Rabiya’s unreasonable demands grew more and more day by day.
Parveen was not allowed to go home for days at a stretch and was not even allowed to make calls.
Rabiya started taking her to the beauty parlour and forced her to wear revealing clothing.
The increasing favours and extraordinary behaviour baffled Parveen but she had to stay there as she needed the money.
Parveen had no idea that the sweet conduct was only a façade. Eventually Parveen realised what Rabiya had in mind for her but by then it was too late. Many times she tried to run away but every time she was stopped by the armed watchman.
One unfortunate night she was led to a room where she was raped by a man who paid Rs. 50,000.00 to Rabiya. When she resisted Parveen was brutally abused and assaulted.
This went on for some time and she was raped by 10-15 men every week. Whenever she tried to resist she was made to drink alcohol or forced to ingest sleeping pills. She was then sold off to a pimp named Shakir Hussain; who assaulted and raped her and used her for many awful activities for more than a year in a flat in Qayumabad.
He sold her off many times to various people from the neighborhood and if she resisted in any way she was beaten. After some time Parveen lost all hope. She had accepted her fate, and would move without a word from one place to another with her kidnappers.
While Parveen was going through her ordeal her family, including her uncle Altaf Hussain, were searching for her anxiously. When Parveen’s mother came back from Rahimyar Khan on 8 October 2010, she went to see her daughter at Rabiya’s house and found her missing.
On being questioned, Rabiya said that she knew nothing about Parveen except that she ran away and got married to someone.
They approached to the Sachal Police Station to register their complaints but the ASI Ahmed Ali Shah refused to take the case after accepting Rs. 20,000.00 from the perpetrator. This left Altaf Hussain with no place to turn to in order to save his niece from more humiliation. Initially the police was reluctant to enroll their case, but after persuasive efforts by Altaf Hussain on 14 October 2010 they registered an FIR against Rabiya alias Natasha.
Despite the passing of several days the police made no progress in the case. Eventually some five months after Parveen’s kidnapping, Altaf managed to convince a police officer to at least come with him to Rabiya’s home. On reaching there, she informed them that Parveen had stolen valuable artifacts from her and then run away.
On 9 October 2011 at around 12am, almost one year later, Altaf Hussain received a telephone call from his niece. She informed him that she has got married on her own will and requested him not to bother Rabiya about her. However, she was crying badly and refused to say anything more before hanging up the phone. Altaf found out the details of the public booth from where Parveen made the call and came to know that she had been accompanied by a woman and four men. He then went to Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) to seek help. He met with Mr. Ahmed Chanai; Chief of CPLC who called up Rabiya and pressurized her to inform him about Parveen Bibi.
Later Altaf Hussain received a call from an anonymous caller that Parveen had been recovered by officers of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) in a shanty home in Shadman Town of North Nazimabad and was sent back to her home in Rahimyar Khan. Altaf Hussain approached Mr. Chanai to get Parveen medical for further action and was told not to pursue the case. He was told to compromise as the woman has been recovered. The perpetrators, he was told, are very powerful having strong contacts with other influential people so it was better to let it go and if he really wanted to pursue it then he had to do of his own.
Altaf Hussain also received telephone calls from ASI Saleem Cheema to withdraw the case and wind up this issue. Altaf Hussain showed his deep concern and apprehension on this issue. According to him there are around 11-12 woman being held against their will by Rabiya. The police, however, are doing nothing because ASI Ahmed Ali Shah is also equally involved in this case.
Tormented By Stigma After Rape
Alam Din, a street vendor, and his family of six, left suddenly after his 14-year-old daughter was raped by several local youths while on her way home from an evening lesson.
The crime was never reported; Din and his brothers felt to do so would damage family honour and instead Din apparently bundled his family and possessions on to a truck and left in the dead of night for Punjabprovince.
“The girl had to be carried out,” said Aleena Bibi, a neighbour. “She had been injured. It is a tragedy this should happen to a child, but now people also consider the house unlucky and are reluctant to buy.”
Many rapes in Pakistan, due to stigma, are never reported, and there are no precise figures on how many occur. However, the US Department of State, in its 2010 Human Rights Report [ http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt...sca/154485.htm ] states 928 cases of rape were reported.
“Prosecutions of reported rapes were rare. Police and NGOs reported that false rape charges sometimes were filed in different types of disputes, reducing the ability of police to assess real cases and proceed with prosecution,” it said.
“NGOs reported that police at times were implicated in rape cases. NGOs also alleged that police sometimes abused or threatened victims, demanding that they drop charges, especially when police received a bribe from suspected perpetrators.”
HRCP states in its annual report for 2010 that 2,903 women [ http://www.hrcp-web.org/Publications/AR2010.pdf ] – almost eight a day – were raped last year.
The Karachi-based NGO War Against Rape, in a statement released last month, [ http://tribune.com.pk/story/273684/w...-orangi-towns/ ], said data collected from three hospitals and police showed that the average age of victims had fallen from 18 years last year to 13 this year in the city. WAR also noted only a minority of the cases reported from hospitals had been brought to the notice of police.
“The insensitive attitude of police, and the fact that women face further harassment at the hands of police, discourages them from reporting abuse,” Sarah Zaman, director of WAR, said.
There have been some horrendous reports of abuse by police, [ http://www.humanrights.asia/news/ahr...C-STM-078-2010 ] including that of a 13-year-old schoolgirl, Natasha Bibi, raped over 21 days while she was held by police in the northern Punjab town of Wah Cantt.
It is the growing brutalization of our society and its patriarchal nature that allows incidents of this kind to happen..
My daughter, who was only 12 years old at the time, was violently raped last year by her cousin. We did not report the matter to avoid a scandal, and to protect her from stigma. But even now rumours fly, my child refuses to leave my side and says she feels ‘dirty’ and we wonder who will marry her with this dark stain hanging over her,” one Gulab Bibi, 40, said.
In rural areas, the reluctance to report rape runs even deeper. Laiq Muhammad, a farmer in the Khairpur district of Sindh, says his nine-year-old sister was raped by the son of a powerful land-owner in the area. “These people have connections, they would simply bribe the police, and I have daughters and another younger sister’s safety to consider,” he said. “We cannot run the risk of further punishment.
“My sister’s life has changed for ever. She is only a child, but we are powerless to help her,” Muhammad said.
The reluctance to report cases also means the survivors frequently receive no psychological support. A victim of sexual assault needs counselling and help. The fact that in our society she is not even able to talk of the incident in most cases only makes matters worse for the thousands of women who suffer rape each year.
Kidnapped from Bus Stop in Gujranwala & Gang Raped Twice
A woman who was abducted and gang raped for the second time by four armed accused two months ago is now pregnant.
According to police officials, the accused had abducted the victim as punishment for her getting an annulment through a local court in Gopipur-Satrah, Daska.
The victim has now complained that the men who raped her have still not been arrested and she has been receiving death threats.
Gopipur resident Tooba Shams had been kidnapped at gunpoint eleven months ago by four landlords and raped. The men got her to sign blank papers and later tried to seize her property. The papers included a marriage contract and property transfer documents but she had the ‘marriage’ annulled”.
According to the original FIR lodged with the Satrah police station under Section 376-II, Tooba was abducted by four landlords Nadeem Mughal, Rana Bilal, Amir Shafi and Muhammad Sadiq while she was going to a local religious seminary in the village eleven months ago. She recorded a statement saying that the accused took her to a warehouse and gang raped her for a month.
She finally managed to escape them one night and sought protection with a Darul Aman. Then she filed a case with the police and a case for the annulment of the marriage with the courts.
Inspector Farooq Shah said that Tooba had also submitted a medical test proving that she had been gang raped. She was also severely injured and malnourished.
The FIR stated that a local court in Daska had dissolved the ‘marriage’ with accused Nadeem Mughal on May 18, 2011. Tooba had said that she and her mother were standing on a local bus stop at village Gopipur headed forGujranwalaon July 6, 2011, when the accused kidnapped her again and took her to Pasrur, where they gang raped her for three days as punishment for annulling the marriage. “Nadeem told me that I was being punished again because I had thwarted his plans by annulling the marriage. Now I am pregnant with my rapist’s baby and he still hasn’t been arrested,” Tooba said. “The police have registered a case but the accused haven’t been arrested. The courts have granted my divorce but these men are still roaming free. What good is a divorce if they are free to kill me?” Tooba said.


Speaking to reporters, Tooba said that the accused were influential and were still at large in the village. She said that the Satrah police was reluctant to arrest the men because they had political backing. She appealed to CM Shahbaz Sharif, Inspector General of Police Punjab, Gujranwala Regional Police Officer Ahmed Mubarak Ahmed and DPO Sialkot Bilal Sadiq Kamiyana to provide her with justice.

These sort of news stories are in all over the world - I wonder if Ctwentysevenj took the trouble to sit and compile the list on them here as well (digging through their religious criticism).