March 5, 2026
By Kaleem Ullah
LAHORE
A girl in her early teens, was seen in a widely circulated video recently on social media, where she was being flogged hard with a bamboo cane by a man who repeatedly insulted her during the procss. The incident reportedly happened in the Domail area of Bannu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the girl had been reported missing for several days.
In an effort to locate her, her family approached none other but a local Taliban commander to lodge a complaint. The girl was apprehended while allegedly disguised as a boy and seen riding in a vehicle with a group of young men.
After she was detained, the girl was subjected to severe flogging as punishment, and a video of the assault were recorded and circulated. The man armed with a stick is beating the girl with full strength, while she cries and pleads. He also kicks her hard. In the video, the man, who identifies himself as affiliated with the Taliban, accuses her of ‘causing distress to her family’. The girl begs to be taken to her parents so she can apologize, saying she is ready to seek their forgiveness and asking to be allowed to see them at least once.
The man is heard saying, “Look at what is happening in Domail — girls are disguising themselves as boys and roaming around in cars with people. They are spreading immorality and corrupting the area. Until we eliminate this dishonor and these people stop such acts, we will continue to punish them.”
The girl is dressed in a white, masculine shalwar kameez, her head covered with a shawl. As one armed man continues to beat her, another repeatedly orders her to remove the shawl so people can see her face.
During the assault, one of the men says, “What kind of system is this? Mujahideen are present here, and you people are engaged in such immoral acts. This is not some apostate police force — these are Mujahideen.” He also asks her whether she feels ashamed. The girl responds that she does feel ashamed and says she is often frightened at home, even scared by dogs barking at night, adding that her parents had given her amulets for protection.
Shocking happenings away from the media eye
Speaking to Voicepk, local journalist Farhatullah says that in order to make money transactional relationships are often built.
“It is being commonly observed in the area that some many influential individuals provide financial support, cars and motorcycles, to those young boys whom they find attractive. In exchange for this these boys accompany them on outings. He said it may have been the situatio in the present scenario too.
Farhatullah adds that the family of the boy she was with, had reportedly complained to the Taliban (TTP), and had complained that her actions were bringing dishonor to their family.
After the videos surfaced some journalists and social workers, as well as a handful of political leaders strongly condemned the incident.
Mohsin Dawar, chairman of the National Democratic Movement (NDM) and former Member of the National Assembly (MNA) from North Waziristan, shared two videos and said the state had effectively surrendered its writ.
“The ‘bad’ Taliban displayed sheer barbarism by assaulting a young girl in Domail, while the so-called ‘good’ Taliban, under state protection, are running checkpoints on the Miranshah–Bannu road, taxing vehicles and kidnapping people on an international route,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bushra Gohar, a member of the National Democratic Movement and a rights activist, said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that a young girl had been flogged by the Taliban in Bannu for not conforming to a public dress code.
“Where is the state and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police?” she asked, adding that children are not safe in the province and that girls’ right to access public spaces is already severely restricted.
Meanwhile Voicepk reached out to the Bannu police for comment but did not receive a response. However, according to Farhatullah, police officials had told him that no First Information Report (FIR) had been registered till now, because no family member or relative had come forward to file a complaint.
The banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has denied involvement in the incident. In a statement issued on Thursday, TTP spokesperson Muhammad Khurasani said the group does not permit punishments outside its formal judicial process. The statement further added that the organisation’s leadership had ordered an inquiry into the matter and assured that action would be taken if any of its members were found responsible. There has also been no statement from any other political leader from the sitting government or the government itself.