Recently the crumbling government of Pakistan handed over the valley of Swat to the Taliban. For those of you who were unaware of what the consequences of that surrender would be — or who need reminding that there is abroad in this world a perverse and despicable religious ideology, as vile an abomination of the human spirit as any that has ever befouled the pages of history — the Guardian has now made available a video of a 17-year-old girl being held face-down in the dirt and flogged as she screams and begs for mercy. Her crime? We read:
Reached by phone, Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan claimed responsibility for the flogging. “She came out of her house with another guy who was not her husband, so we must punish her. There are boundaries you cannot cross,” he said.
The article, with video clip, is here. See also Tunku Vadarajan’s comments in his column at Forbes, here.
3 Comments
Mabruk?
The floor is yours.
The url for the video seems to be truncated by one letter, Malcolm. (Fortunately I is smart enough to figure out that letter, but still.)
As for the video itself… I don’t really know what to say, except maybe this: “There are boundaries you cannot cross.” I think one of those boundaries was crossed here a long time ago.
Thanks, Charles. It’s fixed now.