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Protest rally against the rape of a minor girl in Mughalpura, Lahore, Islamabad

19-09-2013
Islamabad

Protest rally against the rape of a minor girl in Mughalpura, Lahore

Continuing their protest to express condemnation against the rape of a minor girl in Mughalpura, Lahore, and government’s failure to immediately arrest the culprits so far, the civil society representatives and human rights activists gathered at the F-6 Markaz in large number again on Thursday.

The rally organized by Aurat Foundation’s partner networks, including Pakistan Gender Coalition and Women’s Leader’s Groups, and led by rights activists like Mukhtaran Mai, Anis Haroon, Naeem Mirza, Tahira Aftab, Uzma Noorani and Shagufta Alizai. 

Protesters were holding the placards and chanted slogans against the failure of the government to control incidents that are blatant violation of human rights and expressed concern that the law enforcing agencies are trying to cover the incident. They pledged to continue the protest and raise their voices against this inhumanity, as well as to protest the blatant corruption, callousness, indifference and utter failure of the law enforcing agencies in identifying and arresting the perpetrators.

They demanded transparency in releasing the missing video clips of Ganga Ram hospital security cameras. The rally was led by rights activists demanding immediate arrest of culprits.

They said that rape and paedophilia are extremely heinous crimes, not just against an individual, but against society and the state, thus the survivor’s family must not be pressurized to accept any out-of-court settlement or compensation through the police or perpetrators’ influence. 

They called for urgent enactment of long-pending Children’s Protection laws, including maximum punishments of life-long imprisonment until death, without possibility of parole, remission or pardon for paedophilia, rape and gang-rape convicts at federal and provincial level.

They suggested that paedophilia perpetrators must compulsorily undergo psychiatric treatment in prison and that government must provide free, highest quality surgical, medical and post-trauma psychiatric treatment for the survivors’ rehabilitation and support for their immediate families too.

They urged the media, government, and politicians to respect the survivor and her family’s privacy and dignity, by not exploiting them in media-rating wars, or political point-scoring photo opportunities and said that print and electronic media must adhere to the gender-sensitive code of ethics they was voluntarily adopted in 2004 which stresses for no identification, naming or depiction of GBV survivors.