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'Honor' rape: Five Pakistanis held MULTAN, Pakistan (Reuters) -- Pakistani police have arrested five men on charges of kidnapping and gang-raping a woman in the latest of a string of so-called honor crimes. The married woman was attacked because one of her male cousins had an affair with a women whose father disapproved of the relationship, police said on Wednesday. "The accused say they carried out this horrible act as an act of honor," said police official Mohammad Mumtaz. The incident took place in the central Punjab province where the high-profile gang-rape of a woman, Mukhtaran Mai, on the orders of a village council triggered an international outcry. Mai was attacked because her brother had befriended a woman from a power clan, offending male members of the clan. Violence against women is common in rural Pakistan where tribal and feudal customs hold sway. Hundreds of women are raped or killed every year by men intent on restoring honor after behavior -- by the woman or a male relative -- deemed inappropriate in the male-dominated society. In the latest incident, eight men kidnapped the woman, Fauzia Altaf, in the town of Chiniot in late June after the main suspect, Anwar Ali, got angry about an affair between her cousin and his daughter. Ali was among the five men accused of raping and torturing the woman for two days. Two other suspects had absconded while one had turned himself in and been released on bail, Mumtaz said. President Pervez Musharraf, who is trying to project Pakistan as a moderate and progressive Muslim nation, last week condemned the violent humiliation of women and said his government was committed to ensuring victims got justice. He also invited women from around the world to come to Pakistan for a conference and tell of their abuse and recommend solutions. Find this article at: http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/a...reut/index.html