The Association of Women for Awareness & Motivation (Awam) along with ANOA Network and other civil society organisations strongly condemned the public flogging of a 17-year old girl in Swat and termed it an inhuman and barbaric act while holding a protest at Faisalabad press club.
The demonstrators were chanting slogans against the culprits and carrying placards bearing the slogans of equal rights, peace, justice and elimination of such practices in the country.
The protesters said that Taliban had no authority to decide what was immoral and what was not. They further said that Constitution of Pakistan guaranteed fundamental rights of its citizens as 'no person can be deprived of life, liberty without due process of law' and 'dignity of person is unchallengeable and no person can be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment'. This incident is a serious violation of the Constitution as law prohibits whipping.
"The inhuman and barbaric punishment meted out to the woman had made the heads of the people hang in shame. The incident was also contrary to the Islamic principles, as Islam teaches to treat the women politely and gently," they added.
Protesters demanded that the persons involved in this incident should be apprehended and brought to justice; Stern action is needed to restore the writ of the state within the country; the constitution and laws of Pakistan should be strictly enforced in all parts of the country including NWFP; state should take appropriate measures to protect the fundamental rights of its citizen; effective complaints procedure and remedies, including compensation, should be provided and Specific preventive and punitive measures are necessary to overcome lethal form of human rights violations.
Comments
Comments are closed.