SC wants girls’ proof of life

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the authorities to airlift the five girls decreed to death by a local Kohistan cleric, to the capital in order to assure the court that they were alive, while a brother of two boys dancing in the video once again claimed that the girls had been killed on the orders of a jirga. The local administration of Kohistan assured the apex court that the girls would be presented on Thursday. The girls were allegedly killed under a punishment awarded by local jirga for clapping during a wedding ceremony to cheer two young dancing males. A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had directed the authorities concerned to airlift the five girls in a helicopter to validate their stance that they were still alive and had not been killed. Attorney General Irfan Qadir told the bench that he had summoned all the officers concerned, and enquired them about the incident, but they had denied the reports of murder. He said that due to the conservative culture in the area, the girls could not be flown in a helicopter occupied by men.
The bench observed that female representatives from the NGOs, social department or from the judiciary could be taken to meet those girls. The chief justice observed that the incident had brought a bad name to the country. Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik appeared before the court, and said that he had taken immediate notice of the incident and spoken to Hazara DIG Khalid Khan Umerzai and provided them with helicopters to access the difficult terrain. The bench waited until 2pm and later until 6 pm, but the girls were not produced. During the course of proceedings, the home secretary and the attorney general of Pakistan apprised the bench that the girls could not be produced because of inclement weather and assured their production on Thursday. Meanwhile, Muhammad Afzal – the brother of two boys dancing in the video – said the girls were killed on May 30 after a decree issued by Javed, a cleric from Mansehra. Talking to media after appearing before the apex court, Afzal said the five girls had been “slaughtered” on the direction of a local jirga. “All the five girls – Bazgar, Amna, Shaheen, Begum and one more – were killed by the jirga on May 30 and I have four witnesses of the killing,” he said. Afzal said the cleric, along with local jirga members, had issued a decree to kill the girls for dancing with boys. He told the media that three of the “deceased” girls were sisters, and the other two were their relatives. Afzal said that he and his brothers had received death threats, adding that the local police had failed to protect them. “No action is being taken against the murderers of girls,” he said, adding that the jirga had sent 40 to 50 persons to kill him and his brothers.