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on 21-Jul-02 04:39 PM
Thestar.com > News > World
Jul. 4, 2002. 01:00 AM
Teenager relives shame of rape
By Khalid Tanveer
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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MEERWALA, Pakistan — For two hours, the teenager worried for her 11-year-old brother as their father pleaded before a Pakistani tribal council that the boy, of the Gujar tribe, had done no wrong in walking unchaperoned with a higher caste Mastoi girl.
The council, unconvinced, set a brutal punishment: His sister would be gang-raped to shame the family. Shortly after, four council members took turns raping the 18-year-old in a mud hut as hundreds stood outside laughing and cheering.
"I touched their feet. I wept. I cried. I said I taught the holy Qur'an to children in the village; therefore, don't punish me for a crime, which was not committed by me. But they tore my clothes and raped me one by one," the young woman told Associated Press yesterday.
As she spoke, her wailing mother Allah Bachai sat with her at their home in Meerwala village in Punjab province.
Senior police and provincial officials visited here yesterday, promising a full investigation and help for the family.
Asef Hayyat, Punjab's deputy inspector-general of police, said the top local police officer had been suspended and several close relatives of the suspects were detained to pressure the four into surrendering. "We will soon arrest the real culprits."
Rights groups warn that atrocities against women are rising.
Pakistan's Supreme Court yesterday told top Punjab police and government officials to attend a special hearing tomorrow on the June 22 rape.
A week earlier, a girl in a nearby village committed suicide after rape by two tribesmen, the villagers said.
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