Friends,
Baseer Naveed is a dear comrade and friend who spent some time with me as a poltical prisoner in Pakistan. He is currently a senior researcher for South Asia at the Asian Human Rights Commission based in Hong Kong, China.
Baseer writes about a tragedy that went almost unnoticed aroound the world: two lovers stoned to death in the name of Islam.
Read and reflect.
Tarek
April 11, 2008
Why was a couple stoned to death?
HONG KONG, China, While Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf was administering the oath to a newly formed Cabinet on March 31, a hair-raising message was being sent to the elected government from an area of the country that borders Afghanistan. There, Taliban militants were busy executing a couple by stoning, for the crime of adultery.
It was a quick and speedy trial. In a single day, the couple was caught, produced before a Qazi court -- a tribal Islamic court – sentenced, and killed. Oddly, while administering the oath that day, Musharraf appeared distracted and focused less on the new Cabinet members than on security concerns. It was as if he were waiting for something to happen.
The news reached new members of the Cabinet the day after the incident occurred, but it took two days for a public response to be delivered. "There is no room in Pakistan for people to take the law into their own hands," said the minister for information, Sherry Rehman.
"Taliban laws cannot be arbitrarily imposed, and all citizens are entitled to justice under the law."
Interestingly, no comment came from the president, which is uncommon in situations involving such fundamentalist action. In the past, Musharraf himself has been keen to show his anger for the consumption of the outside world.
The female victim, named Shano, had been missing since March 15 from the Khewzai-Baezai tribal area of the Federally Administered Territory Area, and her family went to the police, concerned that she had been kidnapped. On March 31, her family lodged another complaint, but this time against their own daughter: that she had eloped with a man named Daulat Khan. On the same day, the couple was located in Mansehra, a district more than 100 kilometers away, brought back and eventually stoned to death.
The militants, mostly Pakistani Taliban, had hurriedly arranged a Qazi court for the sentencing. However, this is the first time that militants in the FATA used stoning against a person charged with adultery. They usually arrange a public execution by shooting.
After the implementation of the Women's Bill in November 2007, stoning was abolished as a response to adultery. It had originally been dealt with by the Hudood Ordinance, which was promulgated by military ruler Gen. Zia ul-Haq in 1979, criminalizing adultery and non-marital consensual sex.
It is difficult and dangerous to prove an allegation of rape under the Hudood Ordinance. A woman alleging rape is required to provide four adult male witnesses of good standing that saw "the act of penetration." In practice, it is virtually impossible to find such witnesses since no man of good standing would stand there and watch a rape take place. Moreover, to prove rape, the female victim has to admit that sexual intercourse occurred. Under Hudood rules, if the alleged offender is acquitted, the woman can then face charges of either adultery, if married, or fornication if she is not.
The new Women's Protection Bill brings rape under the Pakistan Penal Code, which is based on civil law and not sharia, or Islamic law. It has jurisdiction throughout the country, including the FATA region, as per Articles 246 and 247 of the nation's Constitution. Thus, one must ask why the stoning was implemented and why the Hudood Ordinance was applied. Is this the FATA's rejection of its inclusion in the constitutional territory of Pakistan?
Political and journalistic circles have a number of theories. First, that this is a message from Musharraf's government -- or his cronies -- to the new liberal, secular coalition government: fundamentalism and Islamic militancy still form the nation's greatest threat, and Musharraf is desperately needed by Pakistan to combat it.
The second theory suggests that there is insecurity among the Musharraf team about the billions of U.S. dollars given to it during the "war on terror" and about the questions regarding the need and the use of this money. Even taxpayers in the United States can push this issue with the Bush administration before the November 2008 elections. For those involved, it is therefore very useful if "Islamic militancy" remains one of the major issues in Pakistan for the present time.
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