Day: October 4, 2009

LAHORE: Two hundred and sixty-three women were burnt, 111 were burnt alive, and 100 were burnt in gas leakage in and around Lahore between since January this year, the AGHS Legal Aid Cell informed participants of a session on Saturday.

The cell expressed deep concern over the growing number of victims of burn injuries in the country, and urged the police, doctors, parliamentarians, rights activists and other stakeholders to create awareness against such inhumanity.

Addressing the consultation session, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Chairwoman Asma Jahangir said the organisation would launch an across the board awareness campaign, and would distribute literature to educate people about the treatment of burn victims.
Source: Daily Times
Date:10/4/2009

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Saturday directed the Punjab PPO to submit a report in his chamber on October 6 regarding the rape of a girl.

The chief justice took suo moto notice on a press report that a 10-year-old girl had gone to a bazaar to purchase household items within the limits of the Mansoorabad police station, Faisalabad, when Bilal and his accomplices kidnapped her. They later raped and murdered her and put her body in a box after gouging her eyes. Her body was found after four days.

Similarly, the chief justice took suo moto notice of gang rape of another girl in the house of her schoolteacher and directed the PPO to submit a report in this regard in his chamber on Oct 7.

The chief justice took the suo moto notice on a press report that a girl of class III, aged about nine years, had been gang-raped in the house of her schoolteacher in Chak No 23, Liaquat Pur, Rahim Yar Khan. She was thrown on the road later in a badly-injured condition, from where she was rushed to a hospital.
Source: The News
Date:10/4/2009

By Irfan Mughal

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A central character of the famous incident of flogging of a girl in Swat in the days preceding the military operation there is in the custody of an intelligence agency, according to officials.

The man, who had allegedly flogged the girl in public, was arrested here a few days ago, along with eight other people. They were planning to go to Karachi via Dera Ismail Khan.

The officials said that during interrogation one of the detainees, identified as Mohammad Ilyas alias Chhota Aftab, had confessed to having flogged the girl in public.

The suspects were taken to Peshawar and are in the custody of a security agency.

The video footage of the incident which surfaced on April 2 had taken the entire country by storm and drawn widespread condemnation.

Throughout the two-minute footage, the 17-reay-old girl was screaming out of pain and praying for mercy, but the man continued his job and stopped only after completing the “sentence” of lashing her 34 times.

Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain and then Tehrik-i-Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan had claimed that the incident had taken place before the signing of a peace agreement between the government and Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat Muhammadi of Maulana Sufi Mohammad on Feb 16.

But leaders of several political parties, veteran nationalist leader Afzal Khan Lala among them, said the incident had occurred after the peace deal.
Source: Dawn
Date:10/4/2009

LAHORE: A team of the Punjab Excise and Taxation department allegedly tortured a middle-age widow to death during a raid at her house in Baghbanpura on Saturday. The team conducted the raid without informing the local police.

Kausar Din alias Rani, 50, wife of the late Mirajdin, was at her Lakhu Dehar house when the excise team stormed the place on the information that narcotics had been kept there, manhandled her and smashed her head against a wall. The treatment left the woman unconscious and she was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Baghbanpura Station House Officer Mubashir Ahmed said an excise inspector, Muhammad Rafique, reached the house of Kausar Bibi along with his eight men from Fareed Kot House on information that narcotics had been kept at the place.

He quoted Naseem Hyder, the only son of Kausar, as saying that the excise officials pushed his mother to the wall when she objected to the search of her house, causing her instant death. He said all nine officials were in the police station.

The excise officials claimed the woman could not survive shock when they raided the house to recover narcotics.

According to the SHO, the excise team did not inform the police before the raid.SSP (Operations) Chaudhry Shafiq Ahmed told Dawn that the excise team recovered some quantity of heroin and hash from the house and apparently manhandled the woman. The postmortem report would determine the exact cause of her death, he added.

He said a case would be registered against the excise team on the complaint of the deceasedÂ’s son.
Source: Dawn
Date:10/4/2009

SIALKOT: Students of Government College for Women, Daska, on Saturday staged a sit-in on city police station premises for an hour to protest the release of youths who thrashed the driver of the bus the girls were traveling in allegedly for not cooperating with them in fulfilling their ‘evil’ designs. The police also tortured the driver instead of taking any action against the suspects.

After the protest, the police reportedly took the two suspects into custody. However, no case has been registered till the filing of this report.

Some youths traveling in car (STT-553) started chasing students’ bus (LR-3475) soon after it left the college allegedly to tease some of the girls. The bus driver did not give them any opportunity to fulfill their designs.

When the bus reached Fawara Chowk, the car crossed it from wrong side and the suspects intercepted it in middle of the road. The car riders compelled the bus driver, Muhammad Afzal of Buddha Goraya village, to alight from his vehicle and gave him a sound thrashing allegedly for not ‘cooperating’ with them. This led to a traffic jam which lasted for around 30 minutes.

In the meantime, a Daska police team led by sub-inspector Sarwat Hakeem also reached there and gave the driver another thrashing. The police also freed the influential suspects and took the bus to the police station.

When the bus reached the police station, the girls started chanting slogans against the police for protecting the suspects and torturing the bus driver instead of taking action against the vagabonds.

They alighted from the bus, staged a sit-in and resorted to sloganeering, forcing the senior police officials to negotiate with them.

Undeterred girls demanded a stern action against the vagabonds and left the police station only after they were assured that the suspects would be arrested soon.

The city police avoided giving any comment. However, sources said the police have rounded up the two suspects but did not disclose their names.
Source: Dawn
Date:10/4/2009