“Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them.” — Qur’an 4:34
An update on this story: Pakistani leaders are condemning the Taliban for this video, but Islamic parties are reluctant to join in on the condemnations. “Religious parties reluctant to condemn girl’s lashing in Swat,” by Saadia Khalid and Myra Imran in The News International, April 4 (thanks to Kapil):
Religious parties appeared reluctant to openly condemn the case of lashing a 17-year-old girl in Swat while not giving any clear statement regarding the unfortunate incident.
According to details, a 17-year-old girl in a village of Swat named as Kabal received 34 lashes in public for going out with her father-in-law while this incident happened almost 10 years ago.
“˜The News” tried to contact the leaders of leading religious parties of the country, including Samia Raheel Qazi, Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman in order to take their stance over the barbaric act and its religious justification but they either did not picked up their phones or refused to comment on the incident, saying that they were not aware of the actual circumstances.
The representatives of religious parties, however, did not deny the right of trial of the culprit but somehow justified the act of lashing in one way or the other.
Renowned religious leader Umme Hassaan said that she could not say anything regarding the incident as she was unaware of the circumstances which have lead to the lashing of girl.
“I can’t really make any comment on it as there must be some ground behind the incident,” she said while adding that the media should also investigate before propagating that incident.
She said that trial was the right of every culprit according to Islam but who knows that they might have conducted the trial before announcing the punishment.
Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam Media Director Hafiz Sajjad Qamar said that his party could not comment on the incident as it was a matter between the government and Taliban. “It is the government who signed the peace deal,” he said.
Qamar said that one could not deny the punishment of lashing as Islam allowed lashes in various crimes. “It really depends on the nature of crime but such punishments exist in Quran and Hadith,” he said….