Mukhtaran Bibi: Encyclopedia II - Mukhtaran Bibi - Summary of the story based on the court record

Mukhtaran Bibi - Summary of the story based on the court record

Mukhtaran testified that in June 2002 her adolescent brother Shakoor was suspected and accused by the Mastoi of committing ziadti (rape, sodomy or illegal sex) or zina (fornication or adultery) with a Mastoi girl, Salma, also known as Nasim. This accusation was almost certainly false (and at the trial court, the judge commented that the accusation was unsupported.)

Mukhtaran Bibi - Saturday afternoon June 22 2002

Early in the afternoon of Saturday, 22 June 2002, Shakoor was abducted by three Mastoi men. He was taken that afternoon to the residence of the main defendant, Abdul Khaliq, Salma's brother. (Shakoor testified that he had been abducted by three Mastoi men, each of whom sodomized him in a sugarcane field. The court determined, based on a doctor's testimony, that Shakoor had indeed been sodomized.)

Shakoor had shouted for help while being taken into Abdul Khaliq's house, and his relatives heard his cries. Mukhtaran, her mother, and other women of the house rushed outside, where several Mastoi men told them that Shakoor had committed ziadti with Salma. The women went immediately to Abdul Khaliq's house to demand his release, but Abdul Khaliq refused. Mukhtaran's mother then sent her brother to get the police. There were no telephones or police in Meerwala, and the Jatoi police station was 13 km to the south over dirt roads.

Mukhtaran's clan, the Tatla, gathered together in an akath (small crowd or gathering). They were told that their kinsman Shakoor had been held by the Mastoi because he had been accused of committing ziadti or zina with Salma.

Separately, a Mastoi akath of about 200 to 250 Mastoi gathered outdoors, less than a hundred meters from Abdul Khaliq's house. According to some accounts, a Mastoi tribal council formed, consisting of three defendants: Ramzan Pachar, G.F. Mastoi and a Mastoi clan chief, Faiz M. Mastoi, also known as Faiza or Faizan. The akath was told that Shakoor had committed ziadti with Salma.

The police arrived before sunset, freed Shakoor from the Mastoi, and took him to a police station and held him, pending a possible sex-crime charge against him.

Mukhtaran Bibi - Nightfall

Sunset was at 7:20 PM that day, and twilight lasted until about 7:48 PM. With no electricity, darkness set in. (At the High Court trial, the defense contended that prosecution witnesses could not have seen some of the things that they had claimed to see.)

Mukhtaran's family proposed to settle the matter with the Mastoi by marrying Shakoor to Salma, and marrying Mukhtaran to one of the Mastoi men, and - if Shakoor was found to be at fault - to give some land to Salma's family. This proposal was conveyed to Faizan, the Mastoi elder. According to some of the prosecution witnesses, Faizan was initially agreeable, but two men of Salma's family - defendants Ramzan Pachar and G.F. Mastoi - refused and demanded revenge of zina for zina. Some other Mastoi men allegedly joined them in this demand.

Ramzan Pachar and G.F. Mastoi then came to Mukhtaran's family, and told them that the Mastoi would accept the proposed settlement if she would personally come and apologize to Salma's family and the Mastoi akath. She went to the akath with her father and maternal uncle.

Addressing the akath, which had been dispersing and by this time had dwindled to about 70 people, Faizan stated that the dispute was settled and Mukhtaran's family should be "forgiven."

Mukhtaran Bibi - The rape

Immediately afterward and less than a hundred meters from the akath, Abdul Khaliq, armed with a 30-caliber pistol, forcibly took Mukhtaran inside into a dark room with a dirt floor, where he, G.F. Mastoi and two other defendants raped her. Her father and uncle were kept from saving her, and were kept outside, by Mastoi men. (A deposition by Dr. Shahida Safdar, who medically examined Mukhtaran on 30 June, nine days after the alleged rape, stated that she found two healed abrasions on the victim, 1.5 cm x 0.5 cm and 3 cm x 1 cm. She also took swabs that were found to be stained with semen. No semen was found on the clothes, however, as Mukhtaran's sister had washed them.)

After about an hour inside, she was pushed outside wearing only a torn qameez (long shirt). The rest of her clothes were thrown out with her. Her father covered her up and took her home. (The clothes were presented as evidence in court.)

That same night, the police were informed that the two clans had settled their dispute, and that Salma's family was withdrawing its complaint against Shakoor. His uncle retrieved him from the police station around 2 or 3 A.M.

Mukhtaran Bibi - The following week

A local Muslim imam (mosque prayer leader), Abdul Razzaq, condemned the rape in his sermon on the Friday after it occurred. He brought a local journalist, Mureed Abbas, to meet Mukhtaran's father, and persuaded the family to file charges against the rapists.

Mukhtaran and her family went to the Jatoi police station on 30 June to file charges.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Summary of the story based on the court record", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki