Pakistani women paraded naked through market over son's alleged affair

MULTAN, Pakistan, Friday (AFP) - A Pakistani widow and her two daughters were beaten and forced to parade naked through a market after her son had an alleged affair with another man's wife, police said Thursday.

Seven men have been arrested over the incident which took place in a village called Qabula, 175 kilometres (110 miles) east of the central city of Multan on Wednesday.

One of the arrested men, Muhammad Yousaf, accused Sakina Bibi's 22-year-old son Rehmat Ali of sleeping with his wife. He burst into Bibi's home with six armed men who beat the women and forced them to undress and walk naked through the local bazaar.

The detainees, who will face charges, were "neither ashamed nor repented" for the honour crime, police said.

Women in rural Pakistan often fall victim of family feuds or so called honour punishments.

Mukhtaran Mai, 33, became victim of a notorious gang rape in June 2002, in Meerwala village of nearby Dera Ghazi Khan district. She was raped for more than an hour on the orders of a tribal council to atone for her 11-year-old brother's alleged affair with a woman of a powerful rival clan.