Karachi, Apr 6 : Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has asked President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Interior Adviser Rehman Malik to publicly hang those who had flogged a young girl in Swat.

He made this demand while delivering a telephonic address on Sunday at a MQM women wing's rally at the mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

The MQM observed a peaceful black day all over the country, including Karachi vehemently condemning the flogging of the young girl in Swat.

Protests were also held in other parts of the country, including Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad, Umerkot in Sindh and parts of the Punjab. Protests were also registered by the MQM in parts of England and some states of the USA.

Lashing out at Ulema who had issued statements in support of flogging, Altaf said as per the Quranic verses, the girl could only be punished if four pious eyewitnesses, who prayed five times a day, were produced.

He added if these people failed to produce such witnesses, then the people who had flogged the girl should be whipped publicly 80 times, The News reported.

Altaf also lashed out at the Taliban and said they were defaming Islam. The MQM chief made it clear that he was not against the Pakhtuns, but opposing the Talibanisation of the society, adding he did not accept the Shariah of the Taliban.

He said according to investigative reports, the marriage of the girl and the boy was forcibly solemnised and now the boy was under immense mental pressure. One of the brothers of the girl works in Saudi Arabia and the victim had done intermediate from a college in Mingora, he said.

Altaf disclosed the Taliban had been chasing both the boy and the girl. He demanded of the authorities concerned to save them from these elements. In an emotional tone, Altaf said this act of the Taliban had brought shame to the entire nation. He demanded that those responsible for this act be publicly flogged to death.

He further said he had been repeatedly cautioned about the danger posed by the Talibanisation in Pakistan, including Karachi, but the authorities had turned deaf ears to his warnings and they themselves saw how the girl was flogged. (ANI)