Flogging Video Undermines Arrangements For Islamic Law In Part of Pakistan

In February, the government of Pakistan entered a tentative agreement with the Taliban that are in effective control of the Swat Valley to set up a new judicial structure in the nearby Malakand region of the North West Frontier Province. The arrangement would permit cases to be adjudicated according to Islamic law. (See prior posting.) Now, according to AP and The News, the government is under renewed pressure from human rights advocates not to sign the bill formally implementing the arrangement in light of a graphic video that has surfaced showing the public flogging of a screaming 17-year old girl. AP reports:

Muslim Khan, spokesman for the Swat Taliban, said the militants publicly flogged a woman nine months ago over allegations that she had an illicit relationship with her father-in-law, but he was not sure if the video showed that incident. He defended the punishment, although he said it should not have been done in public and should have been carried out by a boy who had not yet reached puberty.

Yesterday Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry opened an investigation into the incident, ordering the interior secretary to appear before the court and instructing security officials to produce the victim in the Supreme Court in time for an April 6 hearing.