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April 23, 2006
Pakistan: Muslim Village Court Forces Rape Victim To Marry
We described earlier the atrocities and abuses meted out by local Muslim village courts in Pakistan, where girls and young women are given away in forced marriage as a form of "justice" for crimes committed by others. This custom is called Vani in Punjab, where the village councils are called panchayats. In Pashtun regions of North West Frontier Province, the custom is called swara and the council is called a jirga. These marriages bacame illegal for the first time in early 2005, but as we have detailed, the vani and swara marriages continue in the rural areas.
Another case from the Punjab is reported in Pakistan's Daily Times, which shows the blatant callousness of a local panchayat court.
Earlier today, Quereshian Bibi told reporters that she had been raped at gunpoint two months ago by one of her cousins, Muhammad Aslam. She said: "When I got pregnant, I told about the incident to my sister, Razia Bibi, and father, Nazir Ahmad, who tried to report it to the police."
Quereshian lives in a village in Arifwala tehsil (borough), within the Pakpattan district of Punjab province.
A local landlord, who is local influence intervened, calling a panchayat to "settle" the matter. The panchayat declared that she should be married to her rapist's brother, Muhammad Ramzan. Three members of the panchayat solemnised her betrothal (nikkah) to the brother of her rapist, but she has refused to marry the man, and has insisted on registering the rape incident with the police.
As a result of this action, the panchayat then decided to solemnise the nikkah of the rapist's three year old daughter to Quereshian's brother as vani. Quereshian has said that the panchayat has declared that should her family not accept their decision the family's lives would be in danger, and their household possessions would be confiscated.
Quereshian and her father filed a petition in the Lahore High Court to register the rape case, and also a case aganst the panchayat members. The Lahore High Court told them to register their case with the local police in Arifwala. When they went to file their petition, the police registered the rape incident, but would not register any case against the local panchayat.
In order to thwart the rape case, a local official, Syed Shahid Abbas Shah, has now filed a counter-petition against relatives of the rape victim. This alleges that the wife of the rapist (Ume Kalsoom) has been raped by two of Quereshian's brothers and her brother-in-law.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at April 23, 2006 9:01 PM
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