Alleged kidnapping: Men gouge out sister’s eyes, cut off her limbs

By:  OWAIS QARNI

MULTAN: A woman’s eyes were allegedly gouged out and her limbs were cut off by her brothers over a family issue in Shahar Sultan, Muzaffargarh on Wednesday.

One of the suspects, identified as Muhammad Afzal, had suspected that his sister Shareefan Bibi, 40, was involved in the kidnapping of his daughter Asia who was abducted a week ago from the same locality.

According to police, Afzal had also registered a case at the police station regarding his daughter’s disappearance against Shareefan.

On Tuesday, Afzal and his brother Mohammad Munir sent the former’s son Muhammad Aslam to call Shareefan for a court hearing. When she was on her way, three men caught her and gouged out her eyes with a sharp knife. They also cut off her feet and fled from the scene.

The woman, who is mother of five children, was taken to a rural health centre by a passerby where she was referred to Nishtar Hospital Multan. Doctors at the hospital said that the victim was in a critical condition, terming the next 12 hours crucial.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Shareefan’s daughter Nusrat said her uncles wanted to kill her mother but she was not responsible for Asia’s kidnapping.

Police have registered a case against Afzal, Munir and Aslam on the complaint of Nusrat.

A worrying trend

Pakistani social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch was strangled to death by her younger brother in the name of honour in July this year.

Similarly, a mother-of-three and the man she was allegedly having an affair with were killed in Chak 56 near Multan on September 15.

On October 16, a woman was strangled-to-death while another was gunned down in separate incidents in Multan. Gulshan Bibi, 24, a resident of Chak 42, Lodhran, tied the knot with Tanveer a year ago but the couple used to fight over domestic issues. Tanveer and his father Shafi strangled her to death and fled from the crime scene.

One the same day, Muhammad Khan, a resident of Basti Shaheedabad,  Rajanpur, shot dead his wife Naseebo Mai, 33, in the name of honour. He killed her while she was sleeping and managed to escape. The suspect killed his wife over suspicion of having an illegal affair with a man, said the police.

The Express Tribune

 

Mukhtaran Mai walks the fashion runway

Gang-raped and paraded naked in public 14 years ago, Mukhtar Mai walked the fashion runway during fashion week on Tuesday. A red-carpet reception in Karachi, attended by the country’s fashion elite, served as the forum for Mai’s symbolic fashion debut-something she said she’s doing as a model of courage and hope for other women.

“If one step I take, if that helps even one woman, I would be very happy to do that,” Mai told The Associated Press.

In 2002, Mai was sentenced by a local council of tribal elders to be gang raped and publicly humiliated as punishment for her brother’s perceived insult to a rival family. The Associated Press does not identify victims of sexual assault unless they choose to identify themselves.

Rather than commit suicide, as many women in her position have done, Mai went public and fought all the way to the Supreme Court to have her attackers jailed.

Fourteen men the alleged rapists and the tribal council members were put on trial, and six were handed the death sentence. But all of them were eventually released on appeal.

Nevertheless, Mai went on to become an international advocate for women’s rights and founded a charity that sponsors a women’s shelter and a girl’s school in her rural hometown of Meerwala.

On Tuesday night, surrounded by top models and wealthy designers, Mai appeared slightly shy and nervous when faced with the blitz of cameras. Mai, now 44, wore a light green embroidered bridal shirt and silver, silk pajama pants, designed by Rozina Munib, with a scarf covering her hair.

Munib said she approached Mai to display her designs to send a public message that, “If you have a mishap, it’s not the end of life.”

Mai smiled as she walked the runway along with several other models in the concluding event of the three-day Fashion Pakistan Week event. Afterward she moved around freely through the crowds, chatting with well-wishers and allowing a steady stream of admirers to take selfies with her.

Business Recorder

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