From Associated Press, Weerwala, Pakistan.

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday summoned top police and government officials from Punjab Province after it was revealed that a tribal council there allowed an 18-year old woman to be gang raped in order to punish her family after her brother was seen walking with a girl from a higher-class tribe.

The victim recalled Wednesday how the ordeal began.

For two nervous hours, she worried for her 11-year old brother as their father pleaded before the tribal council that the boy had done no wrong in walking unchaperoned with a girl from a different tribe.  But the council was unconvinced, and ordered a brutal punishment: The boy's sister would be gang raped to shame the family.

Shortly afterward, four council members took turns raping her in a mud hut as hudnreds of people stood outside laughing and cheering.

The victim's father, Ghulam Farid, told of how he pleaded with the tribal council for clemency.  "I begged them... my daughter is a very pious girl," he said.  "I reminded them, 'She has been teaching holy Koran to your children, you are fully aware of her character.'"

But, he added, "nobody supported me.  There was no one to protect my daughter."

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