Accused Pakistani woman has feet chopped off

ISLAMABAD, Sunday (Reuters)

A Pakistani man and some of his relatives chopped off his wife's feet after accusing her of being promiscuous, police said on Saturday.

The woman survived the gruesome attack, the latest in a wave of assaults that have raised international concern about the plight of women in Pakistan, particularly in conservative rural areas.

"It is a shameful act of cruelty against a woman and we are taking it seriously," said Talat Ali, a senior police official in Punjab province. "Those who have carried out this crime will not be spared."

The 32-year-old woman told police her feet were chopped off on June 24 by her husband, her father-in-law, a brother-in-law and two others after they accused her of being "of bad character", a euphemism for promiscuous.

Violence against women is common in rural Pakistan where tribal and feudal customs hold sway.

The latest incident occurred in central Punjab province where the 2002 gang-rape of a woman, Mukhtaran Mai, on the orders of a village council, triggered an international outcry.

President Pervez Musharraf, who is trying to project Pakistan as a moderate and progressive Muslim nation, has condemned violence against women and said his government was committed to ensuring victims got justice.

The women in the latest incident had separated from her husband but had gone to his family's house to see her daughter, police said.

Her father-in-law chained her up and that night he and the others took her to a river bed on the edge of their village of Mohammadpur and cut off her feet.

Two days later her parents reported her missing and police raided the house, found her and took her to hospital, where she remains.

"No one can be allowed to treat a woman in this manner no matter what the charges against her," Ali said. "There is no evidence that she was of bad character."