Sonia’s new shock
ISLAMABAD, June 15 2006: Sonia Naz is clearly married to trauma. In a stunning disclosure to The News on June 14, the high-profile rape victim described the horror of an attempt to have her run over by a train after being forced to lie down on a track. Only a last minute rethink by one of the perpetrators of the alleged act led to saving the day.
But clearly bitter over alleged mistreatment even at the hands of the law, Sonia announced a boycott of the trial of her case pending before a Lahore court “to save myself and my children from certain death”. Recalling the nightmare, Sonia said recently, she had gone to Gujranwala with her two children where she claims hoodlums of SP Khalid Abullah forcibly took her away, making her lie on the railway track so that an end to her life under the train could be propagated as a suicide.
However, seeing Sonia’s children weep, one of the killers took pity and spared her life after obtaining a commitment that she would not appear before any court to record her statement. Sonia hit the headlines in April 2005, when she was arrested from parliament where she had gone in the hope of seeking justice. She was later subjected to torture and rape by certain officials of the Punjab police.
An inquiry conducted by DIG Zafar Qureshi found SP Khalid Abullah and a fellow cop guilty of the crime and recommended registration of cases. However, it was only after the Supreme Court’s intervention that the Punjab government was forced to register FIR. SP Abdullah was later arrested and kept in a hospital room only to be bailed out within week by a Lahore court.
After Abdullah’s release on bail, Sonia, along with her children, managed to escape his fury by seeking refuge in different hospitals and railway waiting rooms. She was then divorced by her husband, when she spurned the suggestion to strike a deal with Abdullah. She was also beaten mercilessly by her husband’s brothers a few months ago. Sonia, who faced five police inquiries to prove her case against Abdullah, said she had finally decided to live with the stigma (of a raped victim) instead of “inviting certain death for herself and her children”.
“Let me confess that SP Abdullah has won and I have lost – simply because the mighty cop has proved that being a woman, I cannot do anything (to seek justice), regardless of a one-time intervention by the Supreme Court of Pakistan,” Sonia said, tears rolling down her cheeks. She feels ditched by all, including the Supreme Court, the federal government, parliament, the women affairs minister, the human rights groups and the society. “I feel all alone in my fight against a powerful official of the Punjab police,” she said.
All of Sonia’s sisters were divorced and driven out of their homes after the fallout with Abdullah. “I was left with two options: either to sacrifice myself and my kids or boycott the proceedings. I know that I would not be allowed to appear before any court to record my statement or make any evidence available,” Sonia said. Drawing a comparison with another high-profile rape victim, Mukhtaran Mai, who however, had it much better in terms of receiving some sort of justice, Sonia was livid over the apparent dichotomy but had an explanation for it. “It was easy for the government and the Supreme Court to give justice to Mai as she was up against very low-level landlord of her area. “But, I have been punished and denied justice as I was trying to seek justice against Punjab rulers and their cronies in police uniforms,” she concluded.
Source: The News
Date:6/15/2006
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