The Chief Justice of Pakistan ordered government officials on Monday to submit a detailed report within 15 days over the public flogging of a veiled woman, an incident that incensed the nation.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry gave the directive as eight judgesopened a hearing into the case, apparently that of a 17-year-old girl who was caught on an amateur video being whipped face down on the ground.
Government and regional officials from North West Frontier Province (NWFP) should ‘submit report on a fortnightly basisto the registrar of this court,’ the top judge said in his order,written in English.
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.
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.
Hussain said the 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.
This comes after Malakand Division Commissioner Syed Mohammad Javed was quoted by local media as saying that the incident shown in the video clip had not happened in the Swat valley and that the accents of the people heard speaking in the video were not those of the region.
“This fabricated video clip is a conspiracy to sabotage the Swat peace deal between the Taliban and the NWFP government,” the commissioner said after his visit to the Kala Kalay village where the incident is alleged to have taken place.
The details of her alleged crime were confused, but residents of Kala Killey village in the Swat valley said the woman was accused of illicitrelations with an electrician and forced to marry him.
‘Possibility cannot be ruled out that a fake TV material or a video had been prepared with an ulterior motive to malign people of Swat,’ said Chaudhry.
‘If there is any unlawful order, or provisions of constitution dealing with dignity of human beings are violated, actionis required to be taken,’ he said.
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