Pakistan shocker: teenage girl gang-raped in front of family near historic Sufi shrine

Islamabad: In a gory reminder of horrendous Lahore motorway incident of 2020, a teenage girl was gang-raped allegedly by robbers in front of her family near the famous Pakpattan city of Punjab province, local media reported on Tuesday.

The incident occurred near village Malik Rahmoo in the Pakpattan district – a city known for its historic Sufi Islamic shrines, including that of Sufi Baba Fariduddin Ganj Shakar, known popularly as Baba Farid.

According to a report in leading Pakistani daily Dawn, a resident of Bahawalnagar was on a visit to family friends in Pakpattan along with his wife, a son and a minor daughter, a sister and a 17-year-old niece when the incident happened.

Returning home post midnight, their car was intercepted by four armed suspects who first robbed all passengers and then offloaded women.

The teenage girl was then taken to the roadside maize fields and gang-raped with the family held hostage.

The entire incident, the newspaper reported, lasted for 50 minutes and nobody came forward to help the family even though they desperately cried for help.

After the accused fled the crime scene, the family somehow managed to reach a nearby farmhouse and contacted the local police authorities.

In September 2020, massive protests broke out in entire Pakistan after a similar incident took place on the Lahore motorway where a woman, in her 30s and a resident of France, was gang-raped by two men in front of her children.

Then Lahore police chief Umar Sheikh faced a huge public backlash for blaming the victim for driving late at night and without a male companion.

Pakistan remains one of the most dangerous countries for women with the provinces of Punjab and Sindh witnessing a harrowing surge in violence against women over the last few years.

On Sunday, a teenage patient was raped by an employee of a hospital in Faisalabad.

According to a report released by Islamabad-based Sustainable Social Development Organisation (SSDO), Faisalabad emerged as the epicentre of a harrowing surge in violence against women, reporting 728 cases in 2023.

The report, released in March on the occasion of International Women’s Day, shed light on the escalating incidents of violence, rape, kidnapping, and honour killings against women in Pakistan.

It also disclosed that the total number of reported cases of violence against women in Sindh reached a staggering 10,201 in 2023 marking a disturbing 16 per cent increase from the 8,787 cases documented in 2022.

Similarly, Punjab faced a grim situation, with 10,201 reported cases of violence against women. Incidents of violence against women spanned all districts in Punjab, with Lahore reporting a distressing 1,464 cases. Following closely were Sheikhupura with 1,198 cases and Kasur with 877 cases.

Simultaneously, incidents of rape showed a disconcerting surge across the province. A total of 6,624 cases were reported in 2023, reflecting a 12 per cent increase from the 5,890 cases reported in 2022. Faisalabad took the lead as the worst-affected district, with 728 reported cases, followed by Lahore (721) and Sargodha (398), the SSDO report detailed.