Pakistan seems to be running into a lot of troubles lately. Recently a video was released showing a teenage girl being publicly flogged by a bearded man in a turban (Taliban radical)  34 times while two others are pinning down the a burka-clad girl by her feet and shoulders. The video was taken on a mobile phone and shows the woman screaming in extreme pain.  The flogging took place in the earlier ski- resort of Swat.

“For God sake stop it . . .Hang on, hang on,” the girl, wearing a red shirt, begged in Pashtu as the bearded man beat her.

“I swear by my father, I will not do it again,” she cried throughout her ordeal. After the punishment, she was dragged back to her house.

The married girl was accused of stepping out of her house with her father-in-law, an act the Taleban describes as un-Islamic. The Taleban allows women out on the street only when they are accompanied by their husbands.[Link]

In February the government of Pakistan made a deal to allow Islamic law (or Sharia) to be the only law in the resort area of Swat.

The February deal to make Islamic law the only justice system in the former ski resort triggered alarm around the world among those fearful it would embolden militants throughout the northwest, a hotbed for Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

Thousands of Taliban followers had spent nearly two years waging a terrifying campaign to enforce sharia law in Swat, beheading opponents, bombing girls' schools, outlawing entertainment and fighting government forces. [Link]

Flogged - Why?

There are mixed stories about the video. The predominant one says that the girl left her house with a man other than her husband which is banned under Islamic law.

"This girl was flogged on the basis of suspicious and false evidence. She is 17 years old. She comes from the Kala Killey village of Kabal district in Swat. The entire village knows she is innocent," Minallah told AFP. [Link]

Flogging is a common form of punishment for women under the Taliban regiment.

Pakistan's Reaction

President Zardari condemned the video claiming it was barbaric. The chief justice of Pakistan has ordered inquiry into the flogging.

Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, the chief justice, ordered the local radical administration to bring the victim to court after several Pakistani television channels aired footage showing a 17-year-old girl being beaten in front of a crowd. [Link]

The whole incidence gives me shivers down the spine. How can anyone have such stupid, archaic and barbaric laws and punishments? Disregard to not only human rights whike completing disregarding women rights seems to be essential parts of this law.