Special team to probe Pakistan honour crime

KARACHI: Sindh government has constituted a special team to probe an honour crime in which a 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped and paraded naked in her village last week.

The incident is similar to the 2002 case involving Pakistani rights campaigner Mukhtar Mai that drew international outcry. Mai was gang-raped and left naked on the orders of a tribal council in 2002 as punishment for her brother's alleged affair with a woman from another tribe.

A senior official of the Sindh government on Thursday said that the authorities had taken strong note of the incident and the investigating team had already started its work.

"The girl was punished for no fault of hers. And she will get justice," Salahuddin Haider, an advisor in the Sindh government said, adding "the people responsible for it will be put on trial."

The girl was raped and disrobed in her village, Habib Labano in Ubauro after her cousin eloped with a girl of another tribe. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has termed the incident as shameful and demanded that culprits be given exemplary punishment.

Senior police official Mumtaz Khoso said from Ubauro that six people have been arrested so far and five other accused were absconding.

"We are confident the other five will also be arrested soon. We have been told to ensure the accused get exemplary punishment in this particular incident," Khoso said.