Flogging of 17-Year-Old Pakistani Girl Raises Outrage
The public lashing of a 17-year-old girl named Chand in Pakistan's Swat Valley became the catalyst for countrywide protests on Saturday after a video of the flogging made its way around the Internet. A spokesman for the local Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed the video was fake and that the actual incident happened outside of Swat but defended the punishment as just.
The public lashing of a 17-year-old girl named Chand in Pakistan’s Swat Valley became the catalyst for countrywide protests on Saturday after a video of the flogging made its way around the Internet. A spokesman for the local Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed the video was fake and that the actual incident happened outside of Swat but defended the punishment as just.
Your support is crucial...The Hindu:
In Lahore and Karachi, and in Peshawar too, a large number of people turned out to protest the flogging, describing it as a shame on Pakistan, on Islam and on Pashtuns. A day after it first surfaced on television screens, it was still being shown repeatedly by all television channels.
Apparently taken aback by the revulsion from all corners of the country, the Swat Taliban, who confirmed the flogging on Friday, are now saying the incident seen in the video took place outside Swat. Swat Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan called a press conference where he denounced the video as a conspiracy by “foreign forces” to malign the Taliban and Pakistan. For the first time, he allowed cameras to show his face.
He vowed that the Taliban would hunt down and punish those who had filmed the incident and distributed it “at the behest of some foreign NGOs”.
As we navigate an uncertain 2025, with a new administration questioning press freedoms, the risks are clear: our ability to report freely is under threat.
Your tax-deductible donation enables us to dig deeper, delivering fearless investigative reporting and analysis that exposes the reality beneath the headlines — without compromise.
Now is the time to take action. Stand with our courageous journalists. Donate today to protect a free press, uphold democracy and uncover the stories that need to be told.
Truthdiggers
Critical journalists view the slaughter of their colleagues in Paris from a deeply personal perspective. "Does my work threaten my life?" we ask ourselves.
Three days of clashes between Hindus and Muslim in India coincide with the president's state visit to that country.
A war with Iran isn’t the only risk linked to basing majority-Christian, American troops in the land of Islam’s two holiest cities.
As the terrorist's killing is lauded, it's worth recalling he was in U.S. custody when he began organizing what would become the Islamic State.
As the host of "Real Time," he has adopted any number of reactionary positions. Why does anyone in the media depict him as a leftist?
The administration threatens to cut grant funding for a Middle East studies program.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.