By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudry has ordered a court hearing to investigate the flogging of a 17 year old girl depicted in a video that was shown to the world.  The video was first shown in Pakistan on Thursday, April 2.  The film shows two Taliban members holding a young girl down and a third hitting her with a strap.  She was allegedly punished for “coming out of her house with another man who was not her husband”.  She was given 34 lashes and then taken into a stone building.

Chaudhry condemns what happened and criticized the government for not taking immediate action.  “Before the video became public, what were you doing, why couldn’t you find out what happened?” he asked the attorney general, Sardar Latif Khosa.  Chaudhry was reinstated as Chief Justice after two years of being fired from the bench by President Zardari.

The video was taken by a local with a mobile telephone camera.  It was allegedly filmed a month and a half ago, but only recently released.  Its release coincides with the Sharia peace deal that will be implemented in the near future.

Taliban spokesman Mian Iftikhar said, “We believe there is a conspiracy to sabotage the peace process by airing a video recorded before the deal.”

Samar Minallah, a human rights activist, bought the video in the markets of Swat and distributed it to the media.  In broadcasting the video, Minallah wanted to let the nation know of the types of transgressions happening in the Swat Valley.  “The most fundamental rights are violated every second of every day.  People are being ejected from their houses, courts are closed, 300 schools have been demolished,” she said.

A journalist in the Swat Valley, Ehsan Haqqani, said that it was encouraging for the Supreme Court to take action.  “We were the forgotten people. . . .  The government was only a silent spectator.  Now the Supreme Court is forcing the government to take notice.  That is encouraging for us.”

For more information, please see:

BBC – Pakistan to Probe Girl’s Flogging – 3 April 2009

Daily Times – Taliban Flog 17 Year Old Girl for Having Affair – 4 April 2009

The Hindu – Swat Girl Denies She was Flogged – 7 April 2009

International Herald Tribune – Pakistan’s Chief Justice Assails Attorney General Over Taliban Flogging – 6 April 2009