Pakistan probes woman's flogging
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistani authorities ordered inquiries yesterday into a video showing the public flogging of a screaming young woman in a northwestern valley where officials have yielded to Taliban demands for Islamic law.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistani authorities ordered inquiries yesterday into a video showing the public flogging of a screaming young woman in a northwestern valley where officials have yielded to Taliban demands for Islamic law.
A militant spokesman defended the punishment, fueling a furor that cast more doubt on a creaking peace deal in the Swat Valley that U.S. officials fear has created another haven for allies of al-Qaeda.
Officials vowed to introduce Islamic law, or sharia, in Swat in February to halt 18 months of terror and fighting between extremists and security forces that killed hundreds of people.
Sharia has not formally been introduced, and provincial officials say that, in any case, they would not condone such whippings or the harsh brand of Islamic law practiced under Afghanistan's former Taliban rule. But the video provided a reminder of how hard-liners in control of much of the valley intrepret Islamic strictures.
Although it was unclear when and where the video was shot, it was believed to have been taken with a mobile phone in the Swat Valley. It was broadcast widely yesterday on Dunya TV and other Pakistani stations.
The embattled government of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province struck the deal with a hard-line cleric who helped secure a cease-fire. But President Asif Ali Zardari's office says he will not sign the bill introducing Islamic law there unless he is satisfied that peace has been restored - a prospect that seemed to recede yesterday after a sharp outcry by rights groups.
"It is not a peace accord in Swat - instead it is a surrender by the government of Pakistan," said Asma Jehangir, head of Pakistan's main human-rights organization. The flogging "is against all the women of Pakistan."
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the government remained committed to reconciliation in Swat but warned that it would restart the military operation if its authority was challenged.
It was unclear who ordered the lashing of the young woman and when it occurred.
Muslim Khan, spokesman for the Swat Taliban, said the militants publicly flogged a woman nine months ago over allegations that she had an illicit relationship with her father-in-law, but he was not sure if the video showed that incident.
He defended the punishment, though he said it should not have been done in public and should have been carried out by a boy who had not yet reached puberty.
Provincial government spokesman Mian Iftikhar Hussein said the incident occurred Jan. 3 - before the peace agreement was signed. Some regional officials and the Taliban spokesman suggested the release of the video was an attempt to sabotage the agreement.
A spokesman for Zardari, the widower of Benazir Bhutto, the slain former leader and a women's-rights torchbearer, described the flogging as "barbarism" that should not be tolerated.
