Sonia Naz: Rape Case (Part II) - The Background

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  A Brief Backgrounder on events related to the Sonia Naz case and the characters involved.
  
  

The Husband- Asim Yousaf

Sonia Naz’s husband, Asim Yousaf, worked as a junior clerk in government Excise Department office in Faisalbad. In June 2004 he, along with 17 other members of the Excise department staff were detained by the police on charges of forging documents for stolen cars.

According to Press reports the police ignored due process of the law by and did not document these arrests. Instead these men were detained in illegal custody with the intention of extorting money for their release.

It appears that at one stage Asim Yousaf was released but as ‘insufficient ransom’ had been paid the police demanded that he return to their custody.

Asim Yousaf was compelled to surrender once the police by ‘arrested’ two of his younger relatives and used them as bargaining chips.

Asim Yousaf father says: ‘We even gave Rs1.4million to the SP. But [his superior Deputy Inspector General Faisalabad] also wanted Rs1 million to release my son. I was left with nothing to pay to the police after selling my shops to secure the release of my only son"

Also Sonia Naz says that her husband release could not be finalised as the SP also demanded an additional Rs5million.

The police deny holding Asim Yousaf in custody.

The family suspects Asim might have been killed by the police during torture in custody.

The Alleged Rapist – Inspector Jamshed Chishti

A scan of the internet reveals Chisti to be a particularly vile sort of human being.

Dawn, 4 December,2003, Thursday : An official “show-cause notice” was issued to Inspector Jamshed Chisti for his involvement in the torturing of five people – two students, a shopkeeper and two reporters.

Pakistan News website, 16 April 2004, quoting the Urdu newspaper Nawa-i-Waqt reports that a Judicial Magistrate from Faisalabad discovered a private police torture cell during a raid. According to the news piece:

"The torture cell was running under control of Sargodha Inspector Jamshed Chishti. Several tools used in torturing people were also recovered from the cell. Besides, two servants of Inspector Chishti, acting as caretakers of the cell [were] also arrested."

Daily Times:, 1 September 2005, informs us that Inspector Jamshed was once suspended for seven-years on corruption charges.

The alleged Criminal-in-Charge - Superintendent of Police Khalid Abdullah
Unlike his junior officer Inspector Jamshed Chisti, Superintendent Khalid Abdullah appears to have no obvious trail of previous misdeeds.

• He has denied the allegations of ordering a rape and then urinating in the victims mouth.

Associated Press reported Khalid Abdullah as saying:
"This woman is a liar. ... Her character is not good, and people where she lives are quite aware of it.".

Your Blogger’s Comments
In my experience and personal knowledge many policemen, especially in the Punjab, have a propensity to behave like hardened criminals. Murdering shackled victims in cold blood is extremely common and ends up being portrayed in official speak as ‘a police encounter with armed criminals’. Extortion is widespread among Pakistani policemen in all the four provinces, and unfortunately torture, rape and sodomy of detainees is common in police lock-ups.

This barbarous state of affairs is openly tolerated by the leadership of Pakistan (more on that in my blog of 27 June, 2005 – “State Sanctioned Thugs”) simply because they depend upon this amoral body of people to harass and brutalize their political opponents into submission. The more criminal the policeman the more effective he is in producing the desired political results. In return the leadership turns a blind eye until it is compelled by the Press and public outrage to correct an obscenity of justice.

And Finally
In this instance there always remains a possibility, however remote it may be, that Sonia Naz may not be telling the complete truth. Only time will tell. If that ever turns out to be true, then we the people must ensure that such a happenstance should not weaken or hamper the well-being of future rape victims.

Rape is a crime of grave enormity and every incident of such a crime must be dealt with on its own set of facts and past events or mistakes should never colour or taint our sense of justice.

Related Sonia Naz Blogs
The Glasshouse –I Was Raped on Police Officer’s Orders (Part I)
The Glasshouse - Sonia Naz: Rape Case (Part III) - Subsequent Events
The Glasshouse - Sonia Naz - Rape Case (Part IV) – Latest Update
The Glasshouse - A Sonia Naz Update - 26th September
The Glasshouse - Sonia Naz - Rape Case (Part V) – November Update
The Glasshouse - Sonia Naz : A Victim of Grubby Punjab Politics?

The Glasshouse - Sonia Naz – The Unfolding Tragedy – April 2005

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