Girl threatens suicide for 'rape'

Nazish Bhatti says she wants justice

A young Pakistani girl who says she has been gang raped has threatened to set herself on fire if her rapists are not brought to justice.

Nazish Bhatti, 17, says she was also raped by two policemen when she went to register a complaint.

Police officials say three of the five accused have been arrested but deny that Ms Bhatti was raped by the police.

Hundreds of Pakistani women are raped every year - many because of family or tribal rivalries.

The BBC's Aamer Ahmed Khan in Karachi says it is rare for the victims to go public - most remain quiet for fear of social stigma.

But recently rape victim, Mukhtar Mai, who was attacked allegedly on the orders of a tribal council, has pursued her case doggedly, winning widespread praise, our correspondent says.

'Influential men'

Ms Bhatti, a first year college student, told a press conference in Islamabad on Tuesday that she was abducted from Sialkot, an industrial city south-east of the capital, last month and held in captivity for several days.

She was gang raped repeatedly by her abductors for three weeks, she said.

Rape victim Mukhtar Mai won praise for her stance

Ms Bhatti said she managed to escape and reached a police station to report the crime. But two of the policemen on duty also raped her, she said.

"I came here to knock at the corridors of power for justice," she was quoted as saying by local Pakistani papers.

She alleged that Sialkot police were protecting her rapists because they were "influential men".

Sialkot police chief, Osama Raja, denied the allegations but said investigations were continuing.

He told local newspapers that three of the five men accused by Ms Bhatti had been arrested while the other two had obtained bail. He denied any policemen were involved.

But Ms Bhatti says that she and her parents would set themselves alight in front of the national assembly building if the policemen she was accusing were not arrested within 48 hours.

The Pakistani parliament was told on Tuesday that more than 16,000 women had been raped in the country since 1998.

A large majority of these cases were reported in the Punjab, Pakistan's most populous and politically powerful province.

Human rights organisations have voiced criticism of the increasing rate of crimes against women in the country.