PESHAWAR, April 4 The political and social organisations have condemned the lashing of a young girl by a Taliban group in Swat and termed it an un-Islamic and un-civilised act.

Office-bearers of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, National Party and different NGOs, who gathered outside the Peshawar Press Club on Saturday, condemned the lashing of the girl by the self-styled champions of Islamic Sharia. They also chanted slogans against the provincial government, which according to them was trying to hush up the matter.

They said if the incident occurred even two months ago, it was condemnable and NWFP government should take action against the people involved in it. The speakers denounced what they called an apologetic stand of the NWFP government towards the ugly incident.

Speaking on the occasion, PMAP provincial chief Mukhtar Yusufzai said the miscreants had taken the entire Pakhtuns hostage. He said the provincial government had handed over 1,700,000 residents of Swat to the culprits, involved in heinous crimes.

He said the provincial government had not signed peace accord with the Taliban; instead it had surrendered its authority to them. He said the miscreants had started building their bunkers atop hills and mountains around the valley, which was a great challenge for the government. He said the law-abiding citizens could not live in Swat.

NP provincial president Mukhtar Bacha also condemned the incident occurred in village Kala Kalley near Kabal in Swat and asked the government to arrest the culprits involved in whipping an innocent girl. He said this incident had brought disgrace to the country across the world. He denied that drumming up of this incident as claimed by the NWFP government was a conspiracy to sabotage the peace accord with Taliban.

He said it was not the only incident, scores of such incidents had occurred in the past, but had failed to highlight them in a proper way. He said a beautician at a beauty-parlour had also embraced disgraced at the hands of those people in the past.

Rukhshunda Naz of the Aurat Foundation also spoke on the occasion. She said this ugly incident was a wake-up call for saner elements in society. She said it was the duty of the government to arrest the culprits and punish them. She said it was not a new incident of brutality; the womenfolk had been facing humiliation for a long time.

Ejaz Durrani, a social activist, condemned the incident and held the NWFP government responsible for it, which according to him had failed to protect the life and honour of its citizens. Carried with placards inscribed with slogans against the culprits, women and political activists chanted slogans against the NWFP government and Taliban.

MARDAN The women rights organisations, legal fraternity and political parties here on Saturday staged protest demonstrations against the flogging of a teenage girl in Swat.

A sizable number of women belonging to Women Development Organisation led by its chairperson Nusrat Naeem staged a demonstration in front of Mardan Press Club. The protesting women condemned incident and termed it the worst form of humiliation.

Another protest was staged by women belonging to political parties including ANP, PPP and PML-N. They also condemned the flogging of the girl and termed it a conspiracy against the agreement inked between provincial government and Tanzim Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi in Swat.

They termed the act against Sharria, saying Islam didn't allow even a religious scholar to beat a woman publicly.

Legal fraternity of Mardan also staged protest procession against the Swat incident.

HARIPUR The civil society organisations here on Saturday condemned public flogging of a teenage girl by Taliban in Swat and demanded of the government to award exemplary punishment to the violators of human rights.

In this connection a meeting of various civil society organisations was held at the office of Human Development Organisation (HDO). Representatives of Rural Development Project (RDP), Sustainable Development Vision (SDV), Sahara Foundation and Dehi Development Society attended the meeting.

The participants of the meeting termed public whipping of the girl a shameful act. They said that those opposing the stepping out of a girl with her father- in-law had themselves crossed the barriers of morality and socio-religious ethics by flogging her publicly.

They said that no civilised society on the face of earth had ever encouraged such humiliating and barbaric acts. They criticised the role of federal and provincial governments for their failure to control the clergy that had became so powerful that it had imposed its own style of Sharia in Swat.

They said that the incident was a violation of fundamental rights. They demanded protection to women in Swat and tribal areas and legal action against the perpetrators who according to them insulted the entire womenfolk and brought bad name to the religion and country.

Ibrar Hussain Shah, Qamar Hayat Malik, Syeda Farzana Bibi Naqvi, Ms Shamim, Ziafat Zaman and Tehsin Ullah were prominent among those who spoke to the participants.

MANSEHRA The Tanzeem Islah-i-Rasoom (TIR), a religious outfit has condemned the flogging incident in Swat and demanded of the government to bring to justice those involved in the brutal incident.

“The vilification of Islam should immediately be stopped as Islam doesn't allow such punishment without solid evidence and four pious witnesses in the court of qazi. The Swat incident is fault of some people, which cannot be attached with the Sharia any way,” Mufti Mohammad Dawood told a TIR meeting here on Saturday.

Speaking on the occasion TIR chief Mukhtar Ahmad and Mufti Dawood said that western countries were hatching conspiracies against Muslims and wanted to exploit such incidents for defaming Muslims even if it was against the teachings of Islam. They said though it was a brutal act to flog a teenage girl publicly.

They demanded of the government to immediately arrest the culprits and bring them to justice to shun the propaganda against Islam saying. “It doesn't mean that every person with long beard and hear is a true Muslim,” they added.