Pakistani media outlets today closely followed the verdict in a brutal Indian gangrape case, with a prominent editor saying sexual abuse is a challenge for both countries.
Within minutes of a court in Delhi convicting all the five persons accused of raping a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus in December, websites of Pakistani dailies and TV channels beamed the news prominently.
The development figured in news bulletins though there were other important incidents in Pakistan. State-run PTV too covered the verdict and had nearly a minute-long news capsule.
Commenting on the coverage in Pakistan, Zaffar Abbas, editor of the influential Dawn newspaper, told PTI, "Rape is a common issue and a challenge facing the two countries. This particular incident had led to people and civil activists to the roads in India. People in both countries need to raise their voice against rape."
The verdict in Delhi was also a message to Pakistani civil society that without their activism, many such incidents will go unnoticed here, Abbas said.
Five persons, including a man who died during the trial, were found guilty by a fast track Delhi court of gangraping and murdering the paramedical student in a moving bus in New Delhi on December 16 last year, a case that evoked nationwide outrage and led the government to bring in stringent anti-rape laws.
The court would hear arguments on the quantum of sentence tomorrow.
