The Anti-Hegemons:
There seems to be confusion over when or even where this took place, but it thought to have taken place inside Pakistan about a month or so ago (before the deal between the Pakistani government and the ‘Taliban’ in the area). It had been reported on Channel 4 at the end last month.
The man who was ‘caught’ with this girl is reported to be an electrician who has been forced to marry her.
The newly-restored Chief Justice of Pakistan has ordered an investigation into the incident.
(Via Pakistaniat.)
arif 4:16 pm on April 3, 2009 Permalink |
[Yusufali 24:4] And those who launch a charge against chaste women, and produce not four witnesses (to support their allegations),- flog them with eighty stripes; and reject their evidence ever after: for such men are wicked transgressors
So, who is going to verify that they did produce four witness to conduct this Sharia law?
thabet 1:56 am on April 4, 2009 Permalink |
Good point. There are other questions too, such as who are the men holding the girl? (One report says one of the men is her brother who was forced to hold her down.)
Pakistani govt says a few words about a region they have no control over anyway.
Conrad Barwa 7:53 am on April 4, 2009 Permalink |
Correct me if I am wrong but I remember reading in Shirin Ebadi’s autobiography that according to Sharia law a woman can only be flogged by another woman. It seems to me that what is at work here his tribal patriarchy rather than anything else.
thabet 1:14 pm on April 4, 2009 Permalink |
I agree, Conrad. It is unlikely the people carrying this out are schooled in fiqh. The BBC report said that these sorts of incidents were likely to lessen after the ’sharia deal’ in Swat.
I don’t know about who can or can’t carry out punishments, but clearly if one of the men holding her can marry her then by that logic they need a flogging too…