Honour Row: Pak Girl Forced To Walk Half Naked Through Village

Armed men forced a 16-year-old girl to walk half naked through a village in Pakistan for their family’s honour.

The incident was the result of a fight between two local families. The brother of the girl was accused of having an affair with another girl, whose family was angry about the relationship. The council of elders decided that the young man should pay a fine. But the family of his girlfriend were still not happy. They demanded that the man's sister walk half naked through the village.

Nine men forced the girl to do this. The police have found eight of them, and are looking for the ninth suspect.

The girl was filling water pitchers with her cousins when the men attacked her.

“They shoved me around, and I fell down,” the girl said, according to the BBC. “Then they cut my clothes with scissors. One of my cousins tried to cover me with her dupatta , but they snatched it away.”

She ran into a house to escape, but the attackers pulled her out. A neighbour also tried to intervene, but the men threatened him with guns. The girl had to stay outside for an hour, after which the men let her go.

The incident took place near the town of Chaudhwan, west of Dera Ismail Khan city in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

"In the street, I saw some of the armed men standing near a wall, and I asked them what they had done to my daughter. Instead of answering, they asked me where my son was. They were mocking me,” said the girl's mother, who is a widow.

Crimes related to honour are a huge problem in Pakistan. It is always innocent women who bear the brunt of family and honour-related disputes.  A few months ago, a council of village elders ordered that a 16-year old girl be raped as punishment for the fact that her brother had raped a 12-year-old girl in the Raja Ram village in central Pakistan.

Also Read: She fights against honour killings in Pakistan: Khalida Brohi