Saturday, April 04, 2009
By Essa Khankhel & Daud Khattak 
MINGORA/PESHAWAR: Both the NWFP government and the Swat-based Taliban termed the video showing a 17-year-old girl being flogged by militants a conspiracy to sabotage the February 16 peace deal.
The gory incident occured in Kala Killay area of the Kabal Tehsil where the Taliban publicly lashed a girl for stepping out of house with a man, who was not her relative.
The girl’s name was said to be Chand while the accused was mentioned by locals as Adalat Khan, son of Muslim Khan. Speaking at an emergency news conference in Mingora on Friday, NWFP Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain termed the release of the video to the electronic and print media a conspiracy against the peace deal in Malakand.
He insisted that the incident happened before the provincial government’s peace agreement with the Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-i-Muhammadi (TNSM) in the Malakand division. He argued that some elements were presenting it as a fresh incident to sabotage the peace deal.
The minister said the video was released by a non-governmental organisation (NGO), which is against the peace agreement. He said the incident took place on January 3 while the peace agreement with the TNSM was signed on February 16.
“These are the people who don’t want to put a halt to bloodshed in Swat, stop subjecting people to lashes or dig out bodies from graves and hang them in public,” said the minister. He said their party believed in non-violence and this was why they inked the peace agreement with the Taliban to ensure peace in the Swat Valley. He said the Shariah draft law had been sent to President Zardari and the recent incident was a conspiracy to create hurdles in signing of the draft Nizam-e-Adl Regulation.
Mian Iftikhar said the ANP government was fighting on the frontline and those sitting in drawing rooms should come out and see what was happening in this area. He said his government was ready for any sacrifice, but would not compromise on peace.
“People hatching conspiracies to derail the Swat peace process must understand that any failure this time will have serious repercussions and those people will be responsible for any bloodshed in future,” he warned. He said peace and the government writ had been restored in more than 80 per cent areas of the Swat district.
To a question, he hoped President Zardari would soon sign the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation. Talking to journalists over the telephone, spokesman for Swat Taliban Muslim Khan also said that the girl was flogged before the signing of the peace agreement. “I don’t know what purpose some elements want to achieve by releasing the video at this moment,” he questioned.
Muslim Khan said the incident happened nine months ago. At the same time, he defended the Taliban decision of lashing the girl, saying she was punished for living for three years with her father-in-law instead of her husband.
Khan defended the Taliban for punishing the girl, but objected to the public lashing and said inquiry would be conducted into the incident as to why the girl was brought before the public for punishment instead of awarding the sentence inside a room.
Muslim Khan claimed the two men, who gripped the hands and legs of the girl while being lashed by a bearded and turbaned Talib, were her relatives. He said the local Taliban awarded the punishment of 40 lashes to the girl after getting verdict from a Mufti, or religious scholar, at a time when the military operation was being conducted in Swat and Qazi courts hadn’t been set up.
He said the actual punishment for adultery was stoning to death. However, as there were no Qazis at that time, the girl was awarded punishment of 40 lashes, he argued. Without condemning the incident, Muslim Khan said both the man and girl had confessed their ‘crime’. He said the accused man had also been awarded the same punishment. “Why that video was not released to the media when the one about the girl was shown,” he objected.
Khan said they had accepted the draft law for the Malakand division presented to Maulana Sufi Muhammad and those creating hurdles in the implementation of the Regulation were not doing any good to the area and the people.
Online adds: The head of Tanzim Nifaz Shariat-i-Muhammadi, Maulana Sufi Muhammad, also termed the release of the video a bid to sabotage the Swat peace process. While talking to Online news agency, he denounced the inhuman incident of lashing a 17-year-old girl in public and reiterated to investigate the incident along with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Sufi said the video footage was aimed at maligning the Taliban, as it was not necessary that any man with beard could be a Talib.
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