Attention: A 12-year-old Christian girl has been
gang-raped, detained for eight months, forcibly converted and ‘married’
to her Muslim attacker
Name of victim: Miss Anna (not her real name),
12, daughter of Arif Masih, employed as a street sweeper at WAPDA (Water
and Power Development Authority), resident of Quarter Number 44, WAPDA
Colony, Shahdara, Lahore, capital of Punjab province
Place of incident: WAPDA Quarters, Shahdara,
Factory Area, Lahore, Punjab province
Date of incident: December 24, 2010
Names of alleged perpetrators:
1. Muhammad Irfan (rapist), resident of Shahdara,
Factory Area, Lahore; 2. Muhammad Irshad (rapist), resident of Shahdara,
Factory Area, Lahore; 3. Mumtaz Bibi, resident of Shahdara, Factory
Area, Lahore; 4. Farzana Bibi, resident of Shahdara, Factory Area,
Lahore; 5. Kiran Bibi, resident of Shahdara, Factory Area, Lahore; 6.
Nida, resident of Shahdara, Factory Area, Lahore; 7. Station House
Officer (SHO), Factory Area police station, Shahdara, Lahore
We are writing to voice our deep concern regarding
the gang rape of this young Christian girl who was then forcibly
converted to Islam and then ‘married’ to one of her attackers by the
members of a banned religious organisation. As the details of the
incident have been well documented in the AHRC report, we would like to
refrain from restating the horrific story.
The aforesaid report also mentions that as many as 20
to 25 girls from the Hindu community are abducted every month and
converted forcibly, according to Amarnath Motumal, an advocate and
member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Many abducted girls
are raped, others are never heard from again by their families; all
cases involved a struggle to access their right to redress.
While the aforesaid incidents are extremely dastardly
and inhuman, a general perception about the human rights situation of
minorities in Pakistan can be easily gauged from the recent chain of
unfortunate incidents, including the assassination of minorities
minister Mr Shahbaz Bhatti and Punjab governor Mr Salmaan Taseer, for
supporting minority rights.
It has also been reported that the judge who awarded
the death penalty to Taseer’s killer has gone into hiding fearing
threats to his own life. It is easily imaginable that if ministers,
governors and judges advocating minority rights are not safe, how
difficult it would be for an ordinary citizen to defend his/her human
rights in your country.
Mr President, we believe that defending and upholding
minority rights is one of the foremost responsibilities of a healthy
democracy. If your country fails to protect its minorities, it may not
only affect the democratic credentials of your country but also promote
and bolster anti-minority activities in other countries.
So keeping in mind the human, moral, democratic and
civic responsibility of a country to protect human rights of its
citizens in general and those of minorities in particular, we, on behalf
of The Moderates, urge you to investigate the case of Miss Anna and
prosecute all the perpetrators involved in the gang rape of a
12-year-old girl for eight months. We also urge you to provide full
protection to the child and her family and the best possible medical
treatment and counselling.
Finally, we request you to ask the Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan to provide you with the list of the minority
community girls who have been abducted, and instruct your law
enforcement agencies to trace them and return them to their families and
provide them with protection.
1. Subhashini Ali, India; 2. Shahidur Rashid Talukdar,
USA; 3. A. Faizur Rahman, India; 4. Mallika Sarabhai, India; 5. Ghulam
Mohiyuddin, USA; 6. Javed Anand, India; 7. Vidya Subrahmaniam, India; 8.
Sumathi Sudhakar, India; 9. Ammu Abraham, India; 10. Rohini Hensman,
India; 11. Sukla Sen, India; 12. Noorjehan Safia Niaz, India; 13.
Ghiasuddin Akbar, India; 14. AJ Jawad, India; 15. Dr Mookhi Amir Ali,
India; 16. Juzar S. Bandukwala, India; 17. Raoof Mir, India; 18. Jyoti
Punwani, India; 19. Mohammad Imran, USA; 20. Mohammed Azad AK, India;
21. Ahmed Syed, India; 22. Maqbool Ahmed Siraj, India; 23. Dr Zaheer
Ahmed Sayeed; 24. NP Ashley, India; 25. Nasreen Fazalbhoy, India; 26. TM
Zackriah Badsha, India; 27. N. Roohulla, India; 28. Sultan Mushathick,
India; 29. Altaf Pasha, India; 30. Osman Basha, India; 31. Faiz Ahmad,
India; 32. Parvez Bari, India; 33. Melanie P. Kumar, India; 34. Fatema
Chandra; 35. Abdul Rahim Ahmed, India; 36. Mufti Shahid Hussain, India;
37. Najid Hussain, USA; 38. Dhirendra Sharma, India; 39. Deepa Kurup,
India; 40. Sanobar Sultana, India; 41. MR Sivaraman, India; 42. Akhtar
Hussain Zacki, India; 43. Moosa Raza, India; 44. Md Ali, India
