Around 25 publicly flogged in 2 years by Taliban

The public flogging of a teenage girl by the Taliban in Pakistan's restive Swat valley is not an isolated incident as the militants have punished about 25 men and a woman in a similar manner during the past two years.

Pakistanis reacted with shock and revulsion yesterday after TV channels aired a video shot with a mobile phone that showed three men holding down the girl while a fourth flogged her. The girl was punished by the Taliban for venturing out of her home with a man who was not her husband.

On October 20 last year, a woman and her father-in-law were flogged by the Taliban in Ser-Taligram village in Charbagh tehsil of Swat. The woman was a divorcee who was living with her father-in-law. The two were accused by the Taliban of having an illicit relationship.

Local residents said the man was whipped 50 times while the woman was given 30 lashes, The News daily reported today.

As the Taliban consolidated their control over Swat, a scenic valley located just 160 km from Islamabad, courts run by the militants punished about 25 men by lashing them in public.

Drug addicts are routinely flogged whenever they are caught using narcotics. The Taliban publicly caned two butchers in Ningolay village of Swat some time ago for selling the meat of dead animals.

They also flogged two men in the same village for committing "unnatural sexual offences".

Two Taliban fighters were received 40 lashes each in Bar Thana village in Matta sub-district after being found guilty by a militant court for extorting Rs 360,000 from a goldsmith.

A Taliban commander named Khairo too was involved in this incident as he was the one who imposed a "fine" on the goldsmith after accusing him of running a propaganda campaign against the militants. Khairo was publicly executed in Sinpoora village near Matta.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan defended the public flogging of the teenage girl in several interviews yesterday.