Flogging in Swat generates outrage

Woman in Burka, required dress for women under the Taliban's interpretation of Sharia.

Recently a 17-year-old girl was whipped by representatives of the Taliban in Pakistan's Swat Valley. Stories differ slightly as to the reasons for the beating. Some reports claim the young woman spent time out of her house with a man who was neither her husband nor a relative. Other reports claim the woman was guilty of adultery. Either way, the punishment, captured on video (see below) is disturbing, and reflects a barbarism that is simply unacceptable by any standard.

The video shows the girl face down on the ground. Two men held her arms and feet while a third, a black-turbaned fighter with a flowing beard, whipped her repeatedly. One of the men holding her down is reported to be her brother.

Please stop it," the girl pleaded. "Either kill me or stop it now."

The punishment stopped after 34 lashes and the wailing girl was led into a stone building.

The Swat valley is a hundred miles northwest of Islamabad, Pakistan's capital.  Swat was once a place where tourists would flock to enjoy the climate and natural beauty of the region. Now the Swat valley offers a stark picture of what much of Pakistan may become. In order to make peace with the Taliban and end blood shed in the region the Pakistan government has agreed to allow Sharia (Islamic law) to be practiced in the region. Hence, extremists are laying the groundwork for religious courts to dispense brutal punishments under their harsh interpretation of Islamic law.

The leader of the group, Sufi Mohammad, said penalties including flogging, chopping off hands and stoning to death must be available to Swat's Islamic courts.
Floggings are the proper punishment for sexual intercourse between unmarried people, drinking alcohol and slander, Mohammad said. Thieves should have their hands chopped off, except for poor people who steal to feed themselves. The punishment for adultery is death by stoning.

"These punishments are prescribed in Islam. No one can stop that. It is God's law," said Mohammad, sitting on the floor in his makeshift headquarters in Mingora, the regional capital. Mohammad, the head of the Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariaht-e-Mohammadi, or Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Law.

This is appeasement gone wrong. Cultural relativism has limits. The west can not and should not support this deal with the devil made by the Pakistan government. What is scary is that many Pakistanis actually support Sharia and the Taliban. Nevertheless, the west in general, and the USA in particular, must stand up and say "no" to the misogyny and the female oppression Sharia represents.