Six get death in Meerwala case

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
1

what do u guys think about this verdict?

http://www.dawn.com/2002/09/01/top9.htm

DERA GHAZI KHAN, Aug 31: The Anti-terrorism Court (ATC) handed down death penalty to four rapists and two jurors in the Meerwala gang-rape case.

Judge Zulfikar Ali, who announced the verdict at 12.05am, acquitted eight other accused who were part of the strong Mastoi assembly (Panchayat) that ordered the gang-rape of Mukhtaran Mai.

The court also awarded life imprisonment and Rs40,000 fine each to convicts Abdul Khaliq, his brother Allah Ditta, Fayyaz Hussain, juror-cum-rapist Ghulam Farid, chief juror Faiz Mohammad Mastoi and arbitrator Ramzan Pachaar. Besides the death sentence, the court also awarded 30 lashes each to the culprits.

The acquitted are: Khalil, Hazoor Bakhsh, Ghulam Hussain, Aslam, Allah Ditta, Ghulam Rasool, Qasim and Nazar Hussain. They were charged with abetment by the prosecution. However, the police placed them in ‘column-II’ of its challan for “lack of evidence.”

The judge did not allow the defence lawyers, who described the verdict as “unjust,” to enter the courtroom. “The judge was under pressure,” they alleged. They plan to move the high court in seven days.

A LONG WAIT: It was an agonising wait for mediamen, people and relatives of the complainants and the accused as the judge did not turn up in the court to announce the verdict till midnight. The accused were brought out from the Dera jail at 11:30pm Saturday.

The judge had earlier fixed Aug 27 as the date to announce the verdict in the case after both the prosecution and defence concluded their arguments on Aug 24.

As the incident had drawn worldwide attention, the national and international print and electronic media people thronged D.G.Khan to cover the climax of the Meerwala episode that exposed the injustices in the rural Pakistan. But after spending the whole working day, the judge adjourned the verdict for Aug 31. Though, the day (Saturday) proved uneventful for the journalists, defence counsel Malik Mohammad Saleem gave some juice to the situation, saying: “It seems that the court is under government pressure to give certain judgment.”

The Dera ATC is housed in a portion of former commissioner’s office where a number of other offices are also located. When the people were desperately waiting for the verdict on Tuesday last, some of the officials of adjoining offices were heard advising the people to be calm and collected as the court usually announced verdicts at the dying hours of the day. They also cited a couple of instances when the court gave its verdict as late as 11:15pm. But the observers of the case were hoping after hope that the previous precedents would not be repeated in this case as its trial was already laced with dramatic situations more than its share.

It may be recalled here that when the police submitted challan of the case as per the government directions at the ATC, the judge issued notice to the chief public prosecutor of the ATCs in Punjab to argue whether the case fell in the jurisdiction of ATA-97. Both the prosecution and defence opined that the court lacked jurisdiction. But springing a surprise, the court admitted the case for trial, observing that the facts and circumstances of the case came in the ambit of ATA-97.

Similarly, after a trial of several days, the court sought official letter from the state-appointed team of prosecutors, led by senior lawyer Ramzan Khalid Joiya, to represent Mukhtaran Mai, the complainant.

The prosecution team could not produce the official letter immediately and subsequently the court adjourned the proceedings of that day, ordering the prosecution to justify its presence in the in-camera trial of the case. Next day, the prosecution presented their official power of attorney. But on Saturday it was proved that the officials of adjoining offices of the ATC were 100 per cent correct.

It was a humid and hot summer day out at Dera. Enthusiastic news photographers and journalists remained vigilant to record the entry of the judge and the accused in the court premises, as early as from 8 am.

Some of the court officials remained present there but they did not know when the verdict would be announced. “The day means 12 in the night (midnight),” a court official remarked to the journalistic queries.

When it started raining after the Maghrib prayers, newsmen and the public left the court premises and took shelter here and there.

At 10:10pm, they saw a judge’s car escorted by police mobile coming to the court. Photographers raced towards it to have some shots (of the judge coming out of the car) but were disappointed to find just a driver. The car picked a court steno and left the scene.

2

Re: Six get death in Meerwala case

[QUOTE]
Originally posted by Sheraz CT: *
**what do u guys think about this verdict? *
[/quote]

No matter what happens, JUSTICE will be done!

3

Those sick ********* deserve to die!

They must have killed that poor girl 1000 times. Savages.

4

They deserve death

5

May this be a lesson to all the tribal/feudal minded extremists out there…
I say hang them from the highest point…:k:

6

Apologies if this was posted previously.

Life after the verdict, Nadeem Saeed, DAWN, 19 December 2002

What has life been like for the victim of the now jirga-ordered gang rape?

“Education is the key to awareness” said Mukhtaran Mai, the victim of the notorious Meerwala gang-rape.She was talking to TR, a day after Eidul Fitr in the glimmering light of a lantern at her mud house in the village in Jatoi tehsil of Muzaffargarh district, now named after her father as Basti Ghulam Farid Gujjar. After the rape, when the governor of Punjab asked what the government could do for her, she asked that a primary school for boys and girls be set up in her village.The governor generously approved the demand immediately, following the supply of electricity to her village and the construction of a 4.5km long road to connect her village to the Meerwala village.

Mukhtaran Mai, 30, remembers how when she was a little girl she wanted to go to school but there was no such opportunity, especially for girls, in the area. However, she satiated her thirst for knowledge by learning to read the Quran.

“And this is the most that parents in rural areas can offer their daughters,” she added. “I still feel deprived of education.”

The Meerwala incident only strengthened her convictions on the significance of education. For it was educated urban women who supported Mukhtaran’s decision to take the firm stand of bringing the perpetrators to justice; vilified by the illiterate village women who saw her decision as nothing more than the washing of dirty linen in public.

Mukhtaran was given Rs 500,000 by General Musharraf through the then federal minister for population welfare, Dr Attiya Inayatullah, while the principal of a private school in Muzaffargarh also gave her Rs 50,000. An expatriate woman recently sent her a cheque of Rs 100,000. The Muzaffargarh DCO, however, has reportedly directed Mukhtaran Mai’s bank not to honour the cheque without his approval, and this order has been strictly observed.

The Punjab education department usually only opens a school in a village when the people of the area provide a piece of land free of cost for the construction of a building. For Mukhtaran Mai’s school also, there was no exception. She had to purchase four kanals of land against a sum of Rs 100,000. She also had to pay several visits to the DCO office to get a relaxation on the ‘ban’ on the withdrawal of the amount from her account. “DCO sahib says the ban has been imposed on the direction of the governor,” she revealed.

The structure of the boys’ school building has taken shape while work on the girls’ school has also been initiated. After the posting of a teacher, classes in the boys’ school have commenced, but no teacher has so far been posted for the girls’ school. In the first month of it becoming functional, more than 100 students were enrolled in the boys’ school.

The education department has, however, opened a girls’ school in the vicinity under ‘Ujala’ scheme. A matriculate woman of Meerwala village is assigned the duty to teach the girls in Mukhtaran’s village. Some 30 students have been enrolled in the ‘Ujala’ school which just teaches people to read and write.

The foundation work on the 4.5km long linking Mukhtaran’s village to Meerwala road has been completed. The estimated cost of the road is Rs five million, which does not include the cost of some 10 causeways and two bridges over a water channel. When the village came under limelight, the Water and Power Development Authority carried out a survey of the area to install electricity, but only in Mukhtaran Mai’s home, while the rest of the houses were to remain dark. While estimates were made by the WAPDA authority, Mukhtaran Mai and her family refused electricity only to her house while the other 20 house would continue to live the dark.

The governor had also made an announcement for Mukhtaran Mai to be given a job in the girls’ primary school in her village but nothing was done to further pursue it. “I would set up a book and tuck shop in the area to supply the schools,” Mukhtaran Mai said, disclosing her future plans. She also reflected that the government could not offer her much as she was illiterate. The most they could offer her was the job of a peon or a caretaker of the school, a role which she would like to play even without any remuneration.

Mukhtaran Mai is however, concerned about the security of her family in the wake of the hostility of the Mastoi clan. Though a police post has been set up in her village, it has yet to be given a permanent status. She was sceptical whether the post will be kept in the village on a permanent status. Her brother Hazoor Bakhsh said they might leave the area for security reasons if the government gave them a house elsewhere beyond the reach of the Mastois. However, Mukhtaran Mai said she would only do it as her last option. She said the Mastois had a small piece of land in her village and it would be more practical for the safety of her family if the government would allot the Mastois another piece of land in exchange against this state land which the Muzaffargarh district government had leased out to them in other villages of the area which were mostly populated by the Mastois.

The residents of the area bore fears of a possible encounter between the Mastois and the Mukhtaran family which may lead to brawls, also endangering Mukhtaran Mai’s family. They also reported that the proclaimed offender Muneer Badar of the Mastoi clan was often heard hurling threats. A firing incident occurred involving a local journalist, Mureed Abbas, who first reported the Meerwala case in an Urdu daily before the national and international media took up the cause.

The government had announced plans to issue an arms license to Mukhtaran Mai’s brother and others who stood by her in her trial including Maulvi Abdul Razzaq who first condemned the Panchayat enforced gang-rape of Mukhtaran Mai in his Friday sermon. Maulvi Razzaq told The Review that they had applied for the licenses some three months ago but the authorities were not in a mood to oblige, whereas Muneer Badar and the other Mastois could be seen carrying illegal arms.

Mukhtaran Mai’s family has stood by her though apprehension lurked as to how they will ever get justice, considering the inefficient judicial system of our country.

When asked about any message she wanted to give to women irrespective of rural or urban areas, Mukhtaran Mai said:“They should start their struggle against injustice from their homes by resisting domestic violence. Their silence and tolerance encourages men to further suppress them. They should muster courage to resist the hand raised against them.”

The Human Rights society of Pakistan has considered Mukhtaran Mai for their award for the year 2002 for showing an unprecedented resolve to obtain justice. Mukhtaran Mai heard about it on the radio but received no formal information about it.