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Scholar Muneebur Rehman said Shari`ah could not be implemented by any group of individuals. (Google) |
CAIRO — Muslim scholars and human rights advocates are denouncing a public flogging of a 17-year-old girl by Taliban militants in Pakistan's Swat Valley, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday, April 4.
"This is intolerable," Asma Jahangir, head of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said.
A video footage aired by Pakistani private channels showed a burka-clad woman being pinned to the ground by two men while a third whips her backside 34 times.
The woman, accused of having had an affair, is seen screaming and begging for mercy as a crowd of largely silent men look on.
The girl was then forced to marry the man with whom she was accused of having affair as part of her punishment.
"This is not just the flogging of the girl; it is an indication of what is in store for us," Jahangir said.
"The Taliban are forcing their brand of Islam on us, and we have to resist that."
Pakistani scholars also condemned the flogging, which dates back to January 3.
Renown scholar Muneebur Rehman said Shari`ah could not be implemented by any group of individuals.
"Only an authorized court could prove a woman be guilty or not," he told private Geo News.
Aamir Liaqat Hussain, former minister of religious affairs, also denounced the incident.
"Those involved the incident must be punished," he said.
Probe
The girl's flogging has sent hundreds of Pakistani women into the streets to protest the incident.
"This girl was flogged on the basis of suspicious and false evidence," human rights activist Samar Minallah told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"The entire village knows she is innocent."
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Premier Yousaf Raza Gilani said the flogging was "shocking" and called for an immediate inquiry.
"Our constitution allows no space for such public brutality, and our civilization and culture have no tolerance for it either," said Sherry Rehman, a former information minister.
Chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has already ordered a court hearing into the incident on Monday.
"Chaudhry has taken a serious notice of the video clipping on TV for violation of fundamental rights, guaranteed under the constitution of Pakistan," he said in a statement on Saturday.
The top judge also ordered the girl and government and regional officials from the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) to appear in person at the hearing.
"Chief justice of Pakistan has been pleased to order that... the matter be fixed before a larger bench on Monday."
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