Azerbaijani Business Visitor Allegedly Drugged and Assaulted in Lahore Apartment

A 20‑year‑old woman from Azerbaijan arrived in Lahore on a business assignment and says she fell victim to a coordinated gang‑rape on September 26. According to her complaint, two local women invited her to a restaurant for dinner. During the meal, three men joined the table, offered her a drink that later turned out to be a sedative, and persuaded her to follow them to an unfamiliar flat in the Riverview Defence Housing area. There, the men allegedly gang‑raped her, confiscated her mobile phone and other valuables, and left her alone. She maintains that she can identify the attackers, describing them as friends of the women who initially lured her. The incident adds to a disturbing record of sexual crimes in Lahore, which has logged 1,180 cases of sexual violence in the first eight months of the year. Previously, the same neighbourhood saw the kidnapping and rape of Dutch and Venezuelan women in July, a case tied to suspects called by Muhammad Raza Dar. The growing list of assaults, including the August 20 discovery of a tortured 45‑year‑old woman in Rawalpindi and the arrest of her husband Faisal Asghar Imam for domestic violence, highlights the urgent need for effective protection measures for women across Pakistan.