Pakistani girl denies being flogged by Taliban

A Pakistani teenager who was shown in a video being flogged by Taliban authorities in Swat valley has denied the incident ever occurred, and she says she was never hit.

The incident occurred last week and a video emerged showing Chand Bibi, 17, being held down and flogged more than a dozen times. She told the judge of a Qazi (Islamic) court and Divisional Commissioner Syed Mohammad Javed on Sunday that the flogging incident never happened. Chand Bibi's husband also said neither he nor his wife were hit by the Taliban. The flogging incident was condemned worldwide. Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ordered an inquiry after the video was shown on TV and on the Internet. Human rights activists in Pakistan organized protests across the country, and political parties and the religious scholars condemned the incident. Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has also directed the interior secretary and other officials to appear before him to give an explanation. An electrician had reportedly entered the house to do repairs and Chand Bibi was inside at that time. The man’s relatives told the BBC that the militants saw him and accused him of having a relationship with her and they punished him before they punished the girl. After the incident, the man was forced to marry Chand Bibi and the Taliban gave him instruction not to divorce her. The relatives said the incident has left him mentally scarred. Now both the man and Chand Bibi have told the courts the incident never took place. North West Frontier Province Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told The News Daily the same story and said they were also not forcibly married. Hussain said Chand Bibi doesn’t want to appear before the Supreme Court because it would not be appropriate for a purdah-observing Pashtun girl to do an interview in presence of onlookers and in front of TV cameras:

"She requested the judge and the commissioner to spare her from appearing in the court in Islamabad."

Hussain claims the video is a fake and is being used as a propaganda tool to tarnish the reputation of the people in Swat. He told The News Daily:

"We condemn the acts of repression against women...But the incident depicted in the videotape never took place in Swat."