ISLAMABAD: This is with reference to your editorial of March 18 titled “Murdered for a song”.
It said that the investigation team that was sent by the Supreme Court to Kohistan to verify the news of murder of five women shown in the video clapping and two men dancing “reported back that the story was a hoax and that they had been assured the women were alive”. This is factually incorrect and I say this because I was part of both teams sent to the area.
In the first visit, the team of civil society representatives met only one woman out of four in the video and confirmed that she was alive. However, the team confirmed that the video was made in a hujra and not in a wedding ceremony. Therefore, in view of the local tradition, women’s lives were not safe. The court was urged to take action to remove them from the area.
The second team was sent 10 days after the first mission and consisted of three people. Sessions Judge Justice Munira headed the team and MNA Bushra Gohar and I were the other two members. I submitted a dissenting note. I disagreed with the findings of the report submitted by other two members of the team who had concluded that there was no evidence that the jirga or the fatwa happened and that the girls were alive.
I clearly mentioned in my report that I had doubts about the identity of the two women who were presented before the team in the second visit. Also, I expressed my reservation on the entire investigation process. Despite my reservation, the Supreme Court disposed of the case and did not order any further investigation in the matter.
Para six of the Supreme Court’s Order says: “Before parting with this order, we may observe that Dr Farzana Bari though have expressed reservations about the report of inquiry commission, we would like to observe that if any further input is available to her contradictory to the findings arrived at by the Commission, the same shall be brought before us and we would take up the matter again … ”.
However, the fate of my application to the Supreme Court to reopen the case after a triple murder of the brothers of the men who were dancing in the video is still pending.
Farzana Bari
Published in The Express Tribune, March 23rd, 2013.
