Staff Report

DERA GHAZI KHAN: A local court on Monday sent remanded three policemen, accused of raping five young women in the city, to police custody till June 14, CNBC reports.

The women, aged 16 to 21, said they were sexually assaulted by three drunken policemen and their three civil accomplices during a picnic at Fort Munro hill station located near the city. They were then taken to a police station and raped, they said.

The accused later fled and took refuge to in their tribe; however, officials said the fugitives were later handed over to authorities for the investigations.

The affected women were identified as Sehrish and Parveen residents of Lahore. Shama and Gurya belong to Okara’s Gulshan-e-Fatima Colony, while 15-year Sanam belongs to Bahawalpur’s area of Abbasia Town.

On Monday, three Border Military Police men, Amjad, Naveed and Zafar, were presented before the magistrate here in a local court while three other are still atlarge.

The court sent them on four-day police remand.

During the course of hearing, parents of the victims alleged that police had been forcing the girls to change their statements.

Talking to CNBC TV, Sanam’s father Syed Tanveer Ali said his daughter is student of ninth class and went, along with her friends, to Fort Munro after visiting Sakhi Sarwar Shrine, adding security personnel raped them on gunpoint at the picnic resort.

Syed Tanveer requested Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to take action against the gang-rape incident, or else he would commit suicide.

Border Military Police guards the inter-provincial borders between Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan provinces.

According to the independent women rights group, Aurat Foundation, more than 800 women were raped in Pakistan in 2011. -- CNBC