KARACHI, Feb 3: The Aurat Foundation on Saturday asked its district-level Citizens Action Committees for women Rights (CACs) to protest on Wednesday against an incident in Goth Habib Labano of Ubavro, Ghotki district, in which a teenaged girl was paraded naked on streets.

In a statement, the Aurat Foundation and the Women Action Forum said the delegation of the Foundation’s CAC in Ghotki met the victim on Friday where she had threatened of self-immolation in case the government did not provide her justice.

According to the CAC members, the girl was extremely scared and crying. She also showed them signs of torture.

In the statement, the Aurat Foundation, the Women Action Forum and other civil society organisations condemned the brutal act of 11 men against the 16-year-old girl.

They appealed to the Supreme Court to take cognizance of the heinous crime and take suo motu action against those involved in it.

The statement quoted reports as saying that the girl and her mother were kidnapped and sexually tortured by armed men of the Labano tribe to revenge the marriage of a girl of their tribe with the victim girl’s cousin.

They demanded the authorities arrest those responsible and take severe action against them. They also urged the government to protect and support the victim and her family members because they were being threatened by local influential lords involved in the jirga, which was illegal.

The statement said it was the duty of the state to stop such incidents and ensure security to those who were highly vulnerable in society.

Meanwhile, intellectuals and rights activists in a meeting organised by the Network for Women’s Rights on Saturday accused the government of protecting the feudal lords.

Zahida Hina, Mehnaz Rehman, Saleha Athar, Nigar Barkat, Zahid Farooq, Illahi Bux, Perveen Saeed and Barkatullah expressed concern over the Ubavro incident, growing incidents of karo-kari (honour killing) and disappearance of a teenaged domestic worker in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.