The video, lasting for about two-minutes, was shot using a mobile phone, and shows a burka-clad female, held by two men, while another man repeatedly whips her.
While being flogged, the 17-year-old girl begged the men to stop. 'For God's sake, stop it ... hang on, hang on,' the girl cries as the man beats her across the buttocks. A militant commander off-camera can be heard giving orders as the girl squirms and whimpers under the blows:
'Hold her feet tightly, hold her hands tightly.'After 34 lashes the men stop and the girl is led into a building by them.
Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan claimed responsibility for the flogging, Guardian said. The girl was punished for having committed adultery, Guardian quoted Muslim Khan as saying. He also defended the Taliban's right to thrash women shoppers who were improperly dressed.
Samar Minallah, a Pashtun documentary maker and anthropologist, interviewed by the Guardian, said the video was being passed between Swat residents through mobile phones.
'It was distributed deliberately by the militants to harass residents and make the point that they can keep on doing what they like,' Minallah said.
Residents condemned the beating.
'It's inhuman. If that's their Islam, sorry to say but I don't want it,' said shopkeeper Abdul Kabir.
Mechanic Nasir Khan said the authorities should do something: 'Why aren't they taking action against those who did it? It's criminal silence.'
Minallah said the punishment had been inflicted within the last 10 days, following the signing of a peace deal under which the provincial government ceded control of the valley to the Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Muhammadi (TNSM).
Local sources, many of whom requested anonymity, confirmed the video was recent, however estimates of its timing varied between one and three weeks ago. Muslim Khan said it predated the peace deal.
The female in the video, named as Chaand and aged 17, was flogged in Matta, 25 miles from Swat’s regional capital Mingora, the Guardian report said.
Sources said the girl was punished for allegedly having an illicit relationship with a married man. The girl did not receive a trial. ‘The whole case is based on the suspicions of one neighbour,’ Guardian quoted Minallah as saying.
The girl’s brother is among the men pinning her down, Minallah added.
The leader of Pakistan's main Islamist party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, played down the incident.
'It's a small thing. We should talk about drone attacks, not minor things,' said Munawar Hassan, referring to attacks on suspected militants by pilotless US aircraft that have angered many Pakistanis.
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