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| India-Pakistan |
| Now, Pak girl denies being flogged by Taliban |
| 2009-04-06 |
The teenage girl who was filmed being flogged by the Taliban in Pakistan's restive Swat valley has denied that the incident ever occurred in a statement made to government officials, media reports said on Monday. "Nope. Nope. Never happened." Chand Bibi, the 17-year-old girl who was shown being held down by three men while a fourth flogged her, reportedly told the judge of a Qazi or Islamic court and Divisional Commissioner Syed Mohammad Javed yesterday that such an incident had never happened. "Not to me, not to nobody." The incident was condemned in Pakistan and around the world and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ordered an inquiry into it after TV channels last week aired the video of the girl being flogged. "Huh huh! This is better'n gun sex!" "Lemme whack her! Lemme whack her!" Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry too took suo moto notice of it and directed the interior secretary and other officials to appear before him to give an explanation. "What's the meaning of this?" "Here, Judge! Give her a whack yourself!" [WHACK!] "Hooooo! Owwww!" "Say! This ain't bad at all! Lemme have another go at her!" [WHACK!] "Hooooo! Waaaah!" North West Frontier Province Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told The News daily that Chand Bibi had made a statement to the two officials who visited her village of Kala Killay in Kabal sub-division yesterday. "We're here to receive your statement, miss." "Never happened." "Hokay. And who're these stout fellows?" "Witnesses." "Say! Ain't you the guys that wuz holding her down? And ain't you the guy that wuz whacking her?" "Wudn't us." Quoting the divisional commissioner, Hussain said the girl made it clear she was married to a man named Adalat Khan. An electrician by trade... She refuted reports that both of them were flogged by the Taliban as punishment for having "illicit relations" and then forcibly married. "Au contraire! I been in love with Whatsisname here since I wuz a girl.!" Hussain also said Chand Bibi had expressed her inability to appear in the Supreme Court as she and her family felt it was not appropriate for a purdah-observing Pashtun girl to do so in the presence of TV cameras and onlookers. "I mean, what would the neighbors think? More to the point, what would they do?" "She requested the judge and the commissioner to spare her from appearing in the court in Islamabad," he said, adding the two officials visited the village to record the statements of the couple on the directive of the NWFP chief secretary. "No way I could go to the big city and survive!" The incident caused outrage in Pakistan where civil society and rights activists organised protests across the country. The incident was also condemned by most political parties and religious scholars. "If it's on film it's un-Islamic, you betcha!" Chand Bibi's husband said he was ready to appear in the Supreme Court. The Qazi court judge also recorded his statement and he too denied reports that he or his wife had been lashed by the Taliban. "No, no! Certainly not!" Hussain claimed a fake video had been used to tarnish the reputation of the people of Swat and to disrupt the peace process in the area. "We condemn the acts of repression against women...But the incident depicted in the videotape never took place in Swat," he said. "Yeah! You can tell it's a fake!" "How?" "Lotsa stuff." He claimed the videotape was released as "part of a conspiracy to foil the peace agreement in Swat and put pressure on President (Asif Ali) Zardari not to sign" a regulation for implementing Islamic law in the region. "And to give Islam a bad name!" Meanwhile, the man who filmed the Taliban flogging Chand Bibi has said that the incident occurred about two weeks ago. Shaukat told Dawn News that the treatment meted out to the girl was actually a "punishment" for her refusing a marriage proposal from a militant. "Marry me, Chand Bibi!" "Never! My heart belongs to Whatsisname!" The man who proposed to marry Chand Bibi joined the Taliban after the rejection and this was how he took revenge on the girl, Shaukat said. "Hrarrrr! Let's flog the wench!" "I'll get my whip!" "I'll geet my mascara!" "I'll get my leather chaps!" Asked about the reaction of the people who had witnessed the incident, Shaukat said the people in Swat are so scared that no one has the courage to stand up and speak out against the Taliban and their verdicts. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #3 I'm pretty sure the only truth in that report is the last sentence. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2009-04-06 09:03 |
| #2 Just another day in the land of the Orcs. |
| Posted by: Lone Ranger 2009-04-06 08:27 |
| #1 they sure are sensitive about being seen as barbarian animals, huh? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-04-06 08:26 |