Sexual Assault On Women In Pakistan Jail And Deafening Silence Of Ulema, Journalists and Human Rights Activists
By
New Age Islam Staff Writer
31 May 2023
Former
Member Parliament Says 9th May Violence Orchestrated By Army
Main
Points:
1. 1.A woman
released from Lahore jail has bite marks all over her body.
2. Police
exposed private parts to women while arresting them.
3. The police
threatened to rape women while raiding houses of PTI leaders.
4. Eye
witnesses say Peshawar radio station and the airplane in Mianwali were set
ablaze by the Army.
5. Lahore High
Court turned down request for providing medical report of Khadija Shah.
6. Announcements
from mosques in KPK are being made warning the police of revolt in case of
raids on houses.
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Photo:
First India
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Very
alarming and frightening! This is how the law and order situation in Pakistan
under Shahbaz Sharif government and the Pakistan Army can be described. Reports
that have been pouring in from various sources inside Pakistan show that the
Shahbaz Sharif government and the Pakistan Army have lost sanity in their
enmity against Imran Khan and in their madness to crush any opposition. They
can go to any extent ignoring and disregarding not only their own Constitution
but also international convention on human rights. The police have been acting
and behaving like the enemy of the people. They have disregarded and violated
all laws that they were supposed to protect.
The police
have been cracking down on alleged protesters who were involved in subversive
activities on 9th May when core commander house was set ablaze and Radio
Peshawar building was set on fire. The airplane in Mianwali was also set on
fire allegedly by the protesters. But while raiding houses of PTI workers and
leaders, the police arrested women, threatened to disrobe and even rape them.
They beat elderly men and women and even children. When they raided the house
of PTI leader and singer Abrarul Haque, the senior officer ordered the police
to disrobe his wife. A senior police officer of a city told a journalist on
condition of anonymity that his senior officer told him to disrespect, molest
and mistreat PTI women so that they will not take part in protests again. While
arresting protesting women, therefore, one policemen opened the zip of his
pants before the women and said, "See, your dignity is worth this."
The police raided the house of singer Salman Ahmad's sister, and arrested his
brother-in-law. They raided the house of Shahryar Afridi and picked up his
wife.
On the
midnight of 27th May, the home minister Rana Sanaullah held an emergency press
conference and said that the intelligence agencies had intercepted a call of
two PTI leaders who planned to rape a women lodged in jail and put the blame on
the government and the law enforcing agencies. This press conference raised an
alarm among the people and analyst feared that the police might have raped some
women in jail and so the home minister had to hold a press conference before
the truth came out. People feared that Khadija Shah, a British national and the
grand daughter of former Pak Army chief, Sanam Jawed or Taiba Raja, PTI
workers, may have been the victims. The police have not disclosed there
whereabouts and have not allowed their family members or lawyers to meet. This
has caused fear and anxiety among the people and their families. The hearing of
the case of Khadija Shah was scheduled for 30th May and her lawyer had
requested for her medical report and permission for hef family members to meet
her but intriguingly the Lahore High Court rejected both the pleas. This is
disappointing. The court seems to be working under pressure from the Army.
Now
disclosures by the former MNA and a senior PTI woman leader Shandana Gulzar
Khan have proved the fear true. She is in hiding and has said that a woman who
was released from Lahore jail had bite marks all over her body. This proves
claims by Imran Khan and other PTI leaders and workers that women were being
sexually harassed and assaulted in jails true. Mrs Shandana says in an audio
release:
"These
women have suffered an inordinate amount of abuse. One particular woman in
Lahore complains she has been checked after release from prison and she has
reported bite marks all over her body. There are women who have been abused in
different ways. They have not been allowed to change their clothing; they have
not been allowed food; they have not been allowed lawyers; they have not been
allowed electricity; they have not been allowed even bedding. That's the concept
that in jail if you are PTI, you will not get medication, you will not get
basic toiletries and will have to share toilets with hundreds of other
women."
In a latest
audio clip, a woman says that the policemen are taking women prisoners out and
dragging them towards the nearby graveyard. No one knows what happens to them
in the graveyard. Actually, Rana Sanaullah knew that this was happening. Hence
the midnight press conference.
Mrs
Shandana has made more shocking revelations, according to a YouTuber Azhar Ali.
Mrs Shandana claims that the Radio Peshawar Building and the airplane in
Mianwali was set ablaze by the Army. She says that when she was an MNA, anyone
passing by the Radio Peshawar had to cross three checkpoints and had to show
his identity card to the security personnel. The checkpoints were manned by the
force not by the police. Even she had to show her MNA identity card while
crossing the checkpoints. But on the 9th May, she was participating in the
peaceful protests three kilometres away from Radio Peshawar. All of a sudden
they saw the building being set ablaze by a man covering his face. After
setting fire to the radio building, he uncovered his face and fired from his automatic
gun towards them. Mrs Shandana says no civilian owns an automatic gun.
Again she
claims that a PML (N) supporter who had witnessed the setting ablaze of the
airplane in Mianwali had told her that the DPO himself came, got petrol poured
on the airplane and got it set on fire. According to her, even children have
witnessed this and it is an open secret that the DPO was himself involved in
the burning of the airplane.
Similar
claims were made by PTI leaders and workers about the arson in core commander
house. They claimed that the security was mysteriously withdrawn from the
entire area on 9th May and unidentified people with their faces covered had
burnt it down. And the police has been cracking down on PTI workers on this
ground. The conspiracy is now getting exposed. This is the reason Rana
Sanaullah has rejected opposition demand for an inquiry into the 9th May
incidents.
Dr Yasmin
Rashid who was also lodged in jail with other women was released. She said that
women will tell their tale after coming out of jail. This gives hint of the
state of affairs inside jails.
The rape
and physical assault on women in jail and arrests of women from homes at night
has raised alarm in the tribal area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. People are ready to
die to save the honour of their women. According to reports in the social
media, announcements are being made from mosques in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa warning
the police and the government of dire consequences if they entered their houses
and even touched their women. They have threatened to die for their honour and
dignity. They have warned the police not to dare to do in Pakhtunkhwa what they
have been doing in the Punjab.
The
activists have been urging the UN and other international organisations to take
serious note of the human rights violations in the country especially of the
physical and, sexual assault on women and girls in jails and in houses while
raids are being conducted. A senior journalist Habib Akram said that he got
calks of many parents who told them their sons and daughters were arrested only
if they said something in favour of PTI or against the PDM.
The
religious organisations, the fatwa issuing ulema who keep issuing fatwas of
death against each other on sectarian issues have been silent on the rape and
physical assault on women and illegal detention of minor children and elderly
men and women. The police has arrested more than ten thousand protesters
without any evidence and knows that when produced in court, they will be
released due to lack of evidence. Therefore, they have been keeping them for
longer periods to break their morale.
Maulana
Tarique Masood, Engineer Md Ali Mirza and Peer Afzal Qadri are silent on the
un-Islamic treatment of women. More than 50 ulema had listened the lecture of
Maryam Nawaz silently. They can't say anything against the inhuman treatment of
women and of protesters by her government. Maulana Fazlur Rahman whom Hareem
Shah, a society woman, accused of being a,sexual pervert, has gone to Thailand,
amidst severe economic and political crisis in his own country. Critics say he
has gone on a private visit to enjoy Thai masage in Pattaya beach. Senior
journalists Mansur Ali Khan, Javed Choudhary and Hamid Mir are afraid to speak
in favour of the victims. Only some lawyers and some you tube journalists have
been fighting for justice. Journalist Imran Reyaz Khan is still missing. The
Punjab IG has now said that he might have been taken away to Afghanistan and so
they can not do anything to get him freed. It is feared that he has been killed
by 'Na Maloom'.
It is time
international organisations had taken steps to stop human rights violations and
physical and sexual assault on protesting women in Pakistan. The OIC and the UN
Human Rights Council should take up the issue with the Pakistan government.
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