President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the public thrashing of a teenage girl in Pakistan's Swat valley by Taliban militants and ordered immediate investigation into the matter.
President led a wave of public condemnation, and ordered the arrest of the perpetrators saying, "Inhuman and barbaric punishment meted out to the woman had made the heads of the people hang in shame".
The president said that the government would take action in such a way that such incident would not take place in future. He further said that government was legislating in order to empower women and to protect their rights, and reiterated his resolve that government was taking all out measures to ensure peace and stability in Swat Valley.
The 17-year old girl was flogged two-week back, because she was seen with a man who is not her husband. Video shot with the mobile phone showed that militants made the burqa-clad girl lie on the ground on her stomach. One man was holding her feet and another on her head, while a third man with a black beard and turban thrashed her with a leather strip. Girl's cries can be heard when the men beats across her buttocks as a crowd of largely silent men were looking on.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani termed it "shocking" and called for an immediate inquiry. Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the Chief Justice of Pakistan summoned officials to personally appear before the court on Monday. He also directed the federal interior secretary to procure and produce the victim before the court on the date fixed.
Swat valley was once a destination of tourist attraction with mountain hikes and skiing in the winter and is now better known as a centre of violence and repression. There were reports of militants attacking security forces and assassinating numerous opponents while banning girls from classes and destroying more than 200 schools.
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation director-general Koichiro Matsuura said education suffered a lot due to the Taliban banning girls' from attending schools and months of suppressive acts and attacks on educational institutions, teachers and students led to the creation of a "shocking situation" in the Swat Valley.
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