Human rights and women’s rights activists, belonging to various networks, organized a protest, on January 31, 2014, in Islamabad, against the gang rape of a woman on the orders of local panchayet.  The activists gathered demanded that the rapists and all those who held and participated in the panchayet should be arrested and given severe punishment.

The human rights and women’s rights networks, of which Aurat Foundation is an active member, included Insani Haqooq Itehad (IHI), Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls (EVAW/G,), and PRHN, FADAN, Movement for Social Justice, Awami Workers Party, and Women Councilors Network.

The networks issued following press release to the media:

“We the representative of the civil society organizations and human right networks, strongly condemn the gang rape of a widow on the order of jirga in Muzaffargarh. The incident reflects the brutal mindset of our local power brokers. The decisions of  jirgas and panchayets are often anti-women and anti-poor that uphold the elite consensus at the local level.

We directly hold the federal and the provincial government responsible for this brutal act as they have failed to ensure the implementation of the Supreme Court order that declared jirgas and punchayets as illegal.

The male feudal and tribal elite continue to treat women as the private property of men. The local disputes are often settled on the lives and bodies of women through exchanging them, violating and humiliating them as they are considered repository of male honor. We strongly condemn this decadent mind set.

We demand:

• The rapists and all those held and participated in the panchayet should be arrested and given sever punishment within the shortest possible time.
• We demand the government to provide protection, medical treatment and counseling services and all kind of support that help the rape-victim to rebuild her life.
• We urge the Supreme Court to take its responsibility and deliver justice on people’s door-step by making judicial system more effective, efficient and accessible to women in general and women in particular.
• We demand that the police should take the responsibility to monitor the conduct of these jirgas and panchayets on regular basis and make it as part of the crime reporting.”