Man arrested over gang-rape of teenager

One of four men accused of taking part in a teenage girl's gang rape – ordered as a tribal punishment – has been arrested in eastern Pakistan.

Abdul Khaliq was arrested in a raid on a poultry farm in southwestern Baluchistan province. The other three suspects had fled, police said.

The four men allegedly carried out the rape of the teenage girl on 22 June. A tribal council ordered the punishment because the girl's brother, aged 11, was seen with a woman who was not related to him, a crime punishable by death in some remote and regions of Pakistan.

The teenager's father, Ghulam Farid, said this week that he had pleaded for clemency with the council, telling them the Mastoi tribe woman was safe with his son because he was too young to have sex. "I told the tribal jury that my son is ready to marry if they think she had been molested," Mr Farid said . "But Mastoi tribesmen rejected this proposal saying how could they give their daughter to me, a low caste tribal.

"I begged them ... my daughter is a very pious girl," he said. "I reminded them, 'She has been teaching holy Koran to your children'."

Among the men on the tribal council was Mohammed Ramzan, the Mastoi woman's uncle, he said. "Nobody supported me. There was no one to protect my daughter," Mr Farid said.

Earlier yesterday, Pakistan's Supreme Court criticised police for failing to arrest the men immediately after the rape, which occurred in a small village. The court ordered the policemen involved in the investigation to return to court on 11 July to report on their progress.