‘Victim’s brother was assaulted first’: Meerwala case
By Zulqernain Tahir
LAHORE, July 10: The Governor’s Inspection Team has confirmed that Mastoi tribesmen had first sodomized the brother of Mukhtaran Mai and had gang-raped her to cover up the crime.
The GIT has conducted an inquiry into the incident on the direction of Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool.
According to the team’s findings, some Mastoi men had sodomized Abdul Shakoor “comparatively a handsome looking boy.” To cover up the crime, they later falsely accused the boy of raping one of their women. Afterwards, they gang-raped Mukhtaran Mai on the pretext of revenging the rape of their woman, the GIT has revealed.
The report has been sent to the governor for action. According to sources in the GIT on Wednesday, the report has declared that the Mastoi men alleged on June 22 that Abdul Shakoor of Tatla caste, was caught red-handed in an objectionable posture with one of their caste girl Ms Nasim alias Salma Mai. They alleged that the boy had committed rape with her. A so-called Panchayat, with arbitrators from both sides, was held the same day.
The Panchayat comprising Faiz Muhammad, Ramzan Pachar and Ghulam Farid of the Mastoi tribe while Manzoor Ahmed Jatoi, Moulvi Abdul Razzaq and Ghulam Mustafa represented the Tatlas. The arbitrators decided that the sister of Abdul Shakoor — Mukhtaran Mai — should be given in Nikkah to one of the men related to Salma Mai. The Tatlas accepted the decision but the heirs of Salma Mai refused it.
After this decision the constitution of the Panchayat was changed and it included members of the Mastoi tribe and their arbitrators. They unilaterally decided that Mukhtaran Mai be raped in revenge “to fulfil the requirement of justice,” the report revealed.
Ramzan Pacher, a Mastoi arbitrator, persuaded Mukhtaran Mai’s father to bring her in the Panchayat for a compromise. The father was cheated when he took her to the Panchayat where, in the presence of a group of 150-400 people, she was taken to an adjoining room and was raped by Abdul Khaliq, Allah Ditta, Fayyaz Husain and Ghulam Farid. She was later thrown out all naked, it said.
