News Analysis |
Farishta Mohmand, a 10-year-old girl, was kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered in the federal capital of Pakistan. The police displayed their unprofessionalism and flighty attitude and decided not to register a first information report (FIR) under the pretext that the girl might have eloped with someone.
Later on, after Farishta’s dead body was found some distance away from her home, thrown in a forest, the doctors at the polyclinic initially refused to conduct the postmortem. The murder sparked outrage across the country and social media activists demanded the government to take swift action against those involved in the inhumane crime.
PTM, or any other segment of the society using the case of the little girl for vested political interests, are a danger to the collective development of society.
The Prime minister, Interior Minister and local administration, all took notices and ordered the judicial inquiry to probe the case. The order has been passed to suspend the concerned SHO and a departmental inquiry has been initiated against him. Pakistan army has also offered its assistance to find out the culprits in Farishta’s case.
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“Brutal murder of innocent Farishta is highly condemnable. Those responsible must be brought to justice. Army is ready to provide any support in this regard. We must rise and join to protect our future generations from vile and despicable elements who prey on vulnerable children,” tweeted DG ISPR.
Brutal murder of innocent Farishta is highly condemnable. Those responsible must be brought to justice. Army is ready to provide any support in this regard. We must rise and join to protect our future generations from vile and despicable elements who prey on vulnerable children.
— DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) May 22, 2019
The controversy begun when some leaders of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) went to Farishta Mohmand’s house and tried to use the incident against the incumbent government and allegedly against Pakistan armed forces. “Pashtun card has been deliberately played yet again. We see kids get raped on daily basis in Pakistan and the police behave the same way. We need to reform our systems.
The murder sparked outrage across the country and social media activists demanded the government to take swift action against those involved in the inhumane crime.
Using ethnic cards on such matters is highly irresponsible,” a Lahore-based analyst told GVS. GVS approached a Pashtun leader and asked him to comment on the development. “We are sad to see the attitude of ARY and BOL news. The former kept on stating that Farishta did not belong to Pakistan since her tribal identity makes her an Afghan.
The latter aired breaking news presenting a 14 year old boy, who was sexually harassed by the police in 2018, as the cousin and therapist who murdered Farishta. We are shocked and deeply saddened,” he said. Another Pashtun, a senior bureaucrat, told GVS on the condition of anonymity that “the basic issue with their tickers [aired by ARY news] was first and foremost at a Human level. It was very callous and unbecoming.
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Second, they have shown ignorance about the Afghan identity. All Pathans identify themselves as Afghan. In everyone’s domicile, the caste is marked as Afghan.” It is believed that the media houses behaved recklessly and deliberated on the non-issues in this case. Whether Farishta was from Pakistan, Afghanistan or from any other country of the world, the fact remains undisputed that she was kidnapped, raped and brutally murdered in the supposed safest city of Pakistan.
Media, civil society and authorities were expected to provide the family with justice but undue focus on the tribal lineage created some serious questions with regard to journalistic ethics in Pakistan.
Analysts believe, either PTM, or any other segment of the society using the case of the little girl for vested political interests, are a danger to the collective development of society. Similarly, presenting a boy without prior investigation on national TV as a rapist, in such a serious matter, may have some serious consequence. It was a sheer breach of the basic journalistic ethics which requires the attention of the authorities in Pakistan to get it fixed.