PESHAWAR - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain said on Thursday that video of Kohistan scandal was fake.
The jirga under oath has assured that all the five girls are alive and no harm has been caused to them after the surfacing of dancing video. He said that the video showed that females are sitting at concrete made room whereas male in the video is dancing at a place of muddy structure. Mian Iftikhar said this while speaking at a news conference after reaching from Kohistan where have along with a five members fact finding team had gone.
The fact finding team obtained assurances from the jirga for the safety of five girls who are at the centre of a controversy. Led by Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the five members team attended a local jirga and visited the village of two of the five girls.
The four female representatives of the women rights groups flew in helicopters on Thursday to Beech Bela, a village in district Kohistan, to ascertain the status of the girls. He informed that four civil society members, including Dr Farzana Bari, Dr Fozia Saeed, Shabeena Ayaz, and Riffat Butt met two of the five girls - Ms Shereen and Ms Robina. Both the girls were found to be alive and in good mood, Mian Iftikhar said.
The jirga, he said also informed the civil society members that the three other girls; including Baazgha, Aamna, and Begum Jan were also alive. They, however, could not meet because they had moved from the area along with their families, said the minister quoting the information collected from Ms Shereen and Ms Robina. He said that they have taken a promise from the jirga that it is its responsibility to provide protection to the girls, their families and houses from any harm. The Provincial Minister said that the controversy started making rounds after an ‘engineered video’ surfaced showing Kohistani girls cheering and two youth dancing in a supposedly private gathering.
The population at that remote area in Kohistan keeps moving on seasonal basis so it was understandable when they said that the other three girls have moved out to some other place, he said.
He said the fact finding mission collected evidence from four local witnesses including Safeer Salaar Khan, Qadam Khan, Zabeeh Hayat and Sajeeda Khan.
“The witnesses told the jirga under oath that all the five girls are alive and no harm has been caused to them after the surfacing of the video and the controversy, Mian said. He thanked the Supreme Court of Pakistan for taking suo moto notice of the incident and removing doubts about the girls’ status. “It’s the Supreme Court’s responsibility to fix the responsibility and punish those who lied, he concluded.