ISLAMABAD — Pakistani police arrested 25 people in a rural village Thursday, after the village council ordered a man to publicly rape a teenage girl to avenge the sexual assault of his sister.
Earlier this month, the council told Mohammad Ashfaq, 20, to rape the 16-year-old girl after Ashfaq’s family accused the girl’s brother of raping his 12-year-old sister, police said.
The case was brought to the attention of the police in Punjab province after the mother of the 16-year-old reported that Ashfaq had carried out the rape on July 18 in Muzaffarabad, a village near the city of Multan.
Some members of the council were present at the time of the rape, according to a complaint filed with the police by the girl’s mother.
The so-called honor rape, or vengeance rape, occurred after the council ruled that the rape of a minor family member was a fair punishment for the accused rape of the 12-year-old.
Those arrested Thursday included 24 of the village council’s 27 members, and the 15-year-old boy accused of setting off the chain of events after being accused of raping the younger girl, police said.
Ashfaq remained at large Thursday.
Village councils are considered illegal, but residents in many poor and far-flung regions are reluctant to go to the police.
This recent case is reminiscent of the 2002 gang rape of Mukhtar Mai, who became an international cause célèbre. Mai was ordered raped as a punishment for her younger brother’s affair with a woman from a rival tribe, the Mastoi. Investigations later revealed that three Mastoi tribesmen had molested the boy, and the accusation against him had been false.
Officials said authorities took action in the Punjab case once the 16-year-old girl’s rape was reported to the province’s newly created Violence Against Women Center.
Salman Sufi, director general of the Chief Minister’s Strategic Reforms Unit, who helped to open the women’s center, said both girls had been given medical examinations.
After news of the arrests became public, Saqib Nisar, chief justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court, ordered Punjab’s chief of police to conduct an inquiry into the incident.
Several officers and the Multan chief of police were suspended for their negligence following Thursday’s arrests, said Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, the province’s chief minister.
“I will not sit with ease until all accused are punished according to the law,’’ Sharif said at a news conference.
The rape case has caused an uproar in Pakistan and rights advocates decried the state of women’s rights in the country.
“It seems that nothing has changed since 2002,’’ Mai said in a telephone interview, referring to the year when her own case made international headlines. “Until poor people get justice, such incidents will keep happening. When the perpetrators of such crimes do not fear the law or punishment, when they enjoy political patronage, such practices will not stop. It seems that my efforts of 15 years have gone to waste.’’
