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PAKISTAN:
Mother and daughter allegedly gang raped by the police and government henchmen
Name
of the victims:
1. Miss Ghazala Shaheen, daughter of Mr. Muhammad Hussain
Battiresidents
2. Ms. Mumtaz Mai, wife of Mr. Muhammad Hussain Battiresidents, victim 1's
mother
3. Mr. Muhammad Hussain Battiresidents of Moazo Chah Hashim Wala, Chak Sher
Khan, Kabirwala town, Khanewal district, Pakistan (beaten by the alleged
perpetrators)
Name of the alleged perpetrators:
1. Muhammad Nawaz (main suspect), the alleged right-hand man
of the Sate Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights
2. Nazar Mummad, Abbas, Azhar, Wajid and Ghazanfer, the alleged henchmen of
Minister of the Sate Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights
(The above three suspects are residents of Mirani, Sarai Sadho police station,
Tehseel Kabirwala, Punjab, Pakistan)
3. Mr. Muhammad Ali, Deputy Inspector General-Multan Range
4. Mr. Mehboob Rabbani, Station Head Officer, Saddar police station, Kabirwala
town
5. Mr. Shahid Anees, Superintendent of Police of Khanewal district
6. Mr. Daud Hasnain, Deputy Superintendent of Police Circle Kabirwala.
Date of incident: from
25 August to 5 September 2006
Place of incident: Chak
Sher Khan, Kabirwala town, Khanewal District, Punjab , Pakistan
I am writing to
you to express my concern about the alleged abduction and gang rape of 24
year-old student Miss Ghazala Shahee and her mother Mumtaz Mai by the Kabirwala
police Prunjab province and the henchmen of the Sate Minister for Law,
Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights during the 12 days they spent in illegal
custody.
I have been
informed that the daughter and mother belonging to the lower caste "Batti"
of Punjab province and were kidnapped by the upper caste "Mirali", to
which caste the said minister also belongs. On 25 August 2006, she went to her
house at the Chak Sher Khan village, Kabirwala Town some 50 kilometres away from
her Zakarya University to inform her parents about her success. The news about
her completion of the MA spread in the village like fire. Since it is clear that
higher education of women is not liked by the upper caste, the news allegedly
provoked the people of the minister of state for law and human rights and also
the tribal elders of upper caste namely "Mirali".
On the same
night when people of the Chak Sher Khan returned to their homes after extending
greetings to the victim's family, the henchmen of the minister, some policemen
in uniform, with five to six men of the federal minister allegedly reached the
house at 1:00 am and forcibly entered, severely beating her father Mr. Muhammad
Hussain, a retired military man with, boots, iron sticks and with the butts of
guns. They then allegedly kidnapped Miss Ghazala and her mother Mrs. Mumtaz Mai.
They dragged the victims out of the house and forced them to sit on two motor
cycles. One policeman was driving and the girl was sitting in between him and
another officer behind her, with the same happening to her mother.
On August 27,
upon learning the incident, a local human rights organization called the Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan went to the offices of Station House Officer (SHO)
Mr. Mehboob Rabbani, Superintend of Police (SP) Mr. Shahid Anees and Deputy
Inspector General of police (DIG) Multan to request that the case be registered
and demand that girl and her mother be released from the henchmen of the federal
minister of state. However, the police officer refused to file a case against
the perpetrators as they belong to a higher caste and also the men of a State
Minister of Law Mr Raza Hayat Heraj. The Deputy Inspector General of Multan told
the human rights activists it was a case of old enmity and no abduction took
place, rather the girl and her mother ran away from her house on their own wish.
The Deputy Inspector of Police then refused to register a case by allegedly
saying that this kind of thing happens generally when there is a dispute between
lower and upper castes.
On August 28, a
case involving the disappearance of the victims was registered in the Saddar
police station of Kabirwala only after the intervention of another minister
named Mr. Hasnain Jani of the provincial government of Punjab . Beside this,
Judicial Magistrate of Kabirwla received a medical report from the local
government hospital that confirmed that the both victims were gang raped. Till
date, the police have not registered any case against the alleged perpetrators
regarding this incident despite all these evidence.
On 5 September
2006, people of the Kabirwala town informed the police about a house where the
alleged perpetrators were present with the abducted girl and her mother.
However, it is alleged that the Deputy Superintendent of Police Circle-Kabir
wala, Mr. Daud Hasnain came himself and raided the house and arranged for the
alleged perpetrators to escape with the women and her mother. But the local
people caught one car which was carrying the women and her mother and got
control over three of the accused persons, one was identified as Nazar Mohammad,
while the other two are guards of Mr. Raza Hayat Heraj who is the federal
Minister for State on Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights.
When they all
were brought to the police station at Kabirwala, the police did not allow the
women and her mother to meet with relatives and local human rights activists. At
5:00 pm, DSP Mr. Daud Hasnain arranged a press conference and simply said that
this is the case of old enmity and nothing had happened to girl and her mother.
I have also
been made aware that the mother was not telling anyone about the gang rape
because of the alleged tremendous pressure from high ranking police officers who
threatened that if the gang rape was told then not only would both the victims
be paraded nude in the area but her husband and her sons will also be killed in
a fake police encounter.
I appeal that
you please register a case of gang rape against the alleged perpetrators as
mentioned above and arrest them. A prompt and thorough investigation must be
conducted into the incident by an independent agency not by the local police
considering their deliberate delay of the investigation into the case. Also I
urge that you conduct an inquiry into the alleged role of the Minister of State
for Law, Parliamentary Affairs and Human Rights for his involvement in this
abduction and rape. I further urge you to ensure that full and effective
protection is provided to the victims and their family. Adequate compensation
should be provided to the victims as well.
Yours
sincerely,
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PLEASE SEND
YOUR LETTER TO:
1. Lt. General
Khalid Maqbool
Governor of Punjab
Governor House
Mall Road, Lahore
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 42 9200023
E-mail: governor.sectt@punjab.gov.pk
2. Chief Secretary of Government of Punjab
Punjab Secretariat
Lahore
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 42 7324489
E-mail: chiefsecy@punjab.gov.pk
3. Mr. Khusro
Pervez Khan
Home secretary
Punjab Secretariat
Lahore
PAKISTAN
E-mail: home@punjab.gov.pk
4. Choudhry
Pervez Ihhahi
Chief Minister Punjab
Chief Minister House
Lahore
PAKISTAN
5. Secretary of
Law and Parliamentary Government of Punjab
Punjab Secretariat
Ravi Road
Lahore
PAKISTAN
E-mail: law@punjab.gov.pk
6. General
Pervez Musharraf
President
President's Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 922 1422, 4768/ 920 1893 or 1835
E-mail: (please see http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/WTPresident
Messa ge.aspx%3Ehttp://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/WTPresidentMessage.aspx)
7. Mr. Muhammad
Wasi Zafar
Minister of Law, Justice and Human Rights
S Block
Pakistan Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 920 2628
E-Mail: minister@molaw.gov.pk
8. Ms. Yakin Erturk
Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women
Room 3-042
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9615
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN)
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals
Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)
http://www.ahrchk.net/index.php
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