Zardari condemns public flogging of girl by Taliban

President Asif Ali Zardari today condemned the public flogging of a teenage girl by the Taliban in the Pakistan's northwestern Swat valley, saying the "barbaric punishment" meted out to her had made the people "hang" their heads in shame.

President Asif Ali Zardari today condemned the public flogging of a teenage girl by the Taliban in the Pakistan's northwestern Swat valley, saying the "barbaric punishment" meted out to her had made the people "hang" their heads in shame.

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Zardari has sought a report from the government on the "act of barbarism" and called for "apprehending those involved in the heinous crime", presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar said.

Babar quoted the President as saying that the "inhuman and barbaric punishment meted out to the woman had made the heads of the people hang in shame".

"For its sheer atrocity, the incident will continue to haunt people and the country even in a distant age and clime," Babar said.

The perpetrators of the crime had done a great disservice to humanity, religion and morality. "Such barbarism is unpardonable and cannot be tolerated; it will not be," he added.

Babar said the militants "wanted to impose a medieval and obscurantist agenda in the name of religion on the people through gun and bullets but they will not be allowed" to do so.