Gang-rape victim demands justice

ISLAMABAD: A woman, allegedly gang-raped by her relatives two years ago, demonstrated on Friday outside the Women’s Development Ministry seeking timely justice.

Talking to Daily Times, Nazish Akhtar of Sialkot said she had approached Women’s Development Minister Sumaira Malik and ruling party leaders, including PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, for justice but that they all had made false promises to her.

She lamented that she had been running from pillar to post despite the enactment of the Women’s Protection Bill and was fast losing hope for justice.

The gang-rape victim said she had moved the Sharia Court after a Sialkot district court had acquitted the rapists.

She said the politically well-connected rapists had been threatening her and her family of dire consequences as they wanted her to withdraw her case from the Shariat Court.

She said her father had abandoned his job and her siblings had stopped going to schools fearing danger to their lives. The woman also criticised PML-Q MNA Aasiya Azeem for falsely assuring her free legal aid in the case while appearing in a TV programme. “I’ve been waiting for the help for a long time but it appears that the MNA had made a false promise,” she said. She demanded security and shelter for herself and her family.

Women’s Development Secretary Mahmood Saleem Mahmood also present on the occasion assured Nazish that his ministry would pursue her case in the Sharia Court. He, however, refused to offer accommodation to Nazish and her family.

Source: Daily Times

Date:4/15/2007