Latest news with #honorkilling
Associated Press
16 hours ago
- Associated Press
Father among 9 people arrested in Pakistan over suspected honor killing
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — The father and the ex-husband of an alleged honor-killing victim are among nine people arrested in eastern Pakistan in connection with the young woman's death. Police said Sidra Bibi, 18, was killed on the orders of a local council of elders in the garrison city of Rawalpindi after she married a man of her choice. Some of her relatives are alleged to have buried her body and flattened the land to erase evidence of a grave, police official Aftab Hussain said Monday. The victim was suffocated using a pillow placed over her face, he added. The arrests came after authorities exhumed the body and carried out an autopsy, which confirmed she had been tortured before being killed. The case has drawn widespread condemnation in a country where honor killings are still common. The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said 405 women were killed in 2024 in such cases, compared with 226 in 2023. 'The actual number is believed to be higher due to underreporting,' said Sadia Bukhari, a member of the commission's council. Honor killings, in which family members kill women for actions perceived as bringing shame to the family — such as choosing their spouse — have increased in recent years. Earlier this month, police in in southwestern Balochistan province arrested 11 suspects after a video shared online appeared to show a young couple being fatally shot for marrying without their families' approval. Police confirmed the authenticity of the footage, saying the killings happened in the Deghari district in the province of Balochistan. In January, police arrested a Pakistani man suspected of killing his U.S.-born 15-year-old daughter for refusing to stop posting videos on TikTok, a platform with more than 54 million users in the country. 'These so-called honor killings reveal a deep-rooted mindset that views women as the property of men,' Bukhari said. 'Most women in Pakistan face discrimination from childhood through adulthood.' __ Associated Press writer Asim Tanveer contributed to this story from Multan, Pakistan.
Arab News
2 days ago
- Arab News
Viral video of ‘honor' killing in southwest Pakistan triggers national outrage
KARACHI: A viral video of the 'honor killing' of a woman and her lover in a remote part of Pakistan has ignited national outrage, prompting scrutiny of long-standing tribal codes and calls for justice in a country where such killings often pass in silence. While hundreds of so-called honor killings are reported in Pakistan each year, often with little public or legal response, the video of a woman and man accused of adultery being taken to the desert by a group of men to be killed has struck a nerve. The video shows the woman, Bano Bibi, being handed a Qur'an by a man identified by police as her brother. 'Come walk seven steps with me, after that you can shoot me,' she says, and she walks forward a few feet and stops with her back to the men. The brother, Jalal Satakzai, then shoots her three times and she collapses. Seconds later he shoots and kills the man, Ehsan Ullah Samalani, whom Bano was accused of having an affair with. Once the video of the killings in Pakistan's Balochistan province went viral, it brought swift government action and condemnation from politicians, rights groups and clerics. Civil rights lawyer Jibran Nasir said, though, the government's response was more about performance than justice. 'The crime occurred months ago, not in secrecy but near a provincial capital, yet no one acted until 240 million witnessed the killing on camera,' he said. 'This isn't a response to a crime. It's a response to a viral moment.' Police have arrested 16 people in Balochistan's Nasirabad district, including a tribal chief and the woman's mother. The mother, Gul Jan Bibi, said the killings were carried out by family and local elders based on 'centuries-old Baloch traditions,' and not on the orders of the tribal chief. 'We did not commit any sin,' she said in a video statement that also went viral. 'Bano and Ehsan were killed according to our customs.' She said her daughter, who had three sons and two daughters, had run away with Ehsan and returned after 25 days. Police said Bano's younger brother, who shot the couple, remains at large. Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti said it was a 'test' case and vowed to dismantle the illegal tribal courts operating outside the law. Police had earlier said a jirga, an informal tribal council that issues extrajudicial rulings, had ordered the killings. #JusticeForCouple The video sparked online condemnation, with hashtags like #JusticeForCouple and #HonourKilling trending. The Pakistan Ulema Council, a body of religious scholars, called the killings 'un-Islamic' and urged terrorism charges against those involved. Dozens of civil society members and rights activists staged a protest on Saturday in the provincial capital Quetta, demanding justice and an end to parallel justice systems. 'Virality is a double-edged sword,' said Arsalan Khan, a cultural anthropologist and professor who studies gender and masculinity. 'It can pressure the state into action, but public spectacle can also serve as a strategy to restore ghairat, or perceived family honor, in the eyes of the community.' Pakistan outlawed honor killings in 2016 after the murder of social media star Qandeel Baloch, closing a loophole that allowed perpetrators to go free if they were pardoned by family members. Rights groups say enforcement remains weak, especially in rural areas where tribal councils still hold sway. 'In a country where conviction rates often fall to single digits, visibility — and the uproar it brings — has its advantages,' said constitutional lawyer Asad Rahim Khan. 'It jolts a complacent state that continues to tolerate jirgas in areas beyond its writ.' The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan reported at least 405 honor killings in 2024. Most victims are women, often killed by relatives claiming to defend family honor. Khan said rather than enforcing the law, the government has spent the past year weakening the judiciary and even considering reviving jirgas in former tribal areas. 'It's executive inaction, most shamefully toward women in Balochistan,' Khan said. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in recent months has asked senior ministers to evaluate proposals to revive jirgas in Pakistan's former tribal districts, including potential engagement with tribal elders and Afghan authorities. The Prime Minister's Office and Pakistan's information minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment. VIRAL AND THEN FORGOTTEN? The Balochistan killings were raised in Pakistan's Senate, where the human rights committee condemned the murders and called for action against those who convened the jirga. Lawmakers also warned that impunity for parallel justice systems risked encouraging similar violence. Activists and analysts, however, say the outrage is unlikely to be sustained. 'There's noise now, but like every time, it will fade,' said Jalila Haider, a human rights lawyer in Quetta. 'In many areas, there is no writ of law, no enforcement. Only silence.' Haider said the killings underscore the state's failure to protect citizens in under-governed regions like Balochistan, where tribal power structures fill the vacuum left by absent courts and police. 'It's not enough to just condemn jirgas,' Haider said. 'The real question is: why does the state allow them to exist in the first place?'
Arab News
2 days ago
- Arab News
Viral ‘honor' killing in southwest Pakistan triggers national outrage
KARACHI: A viral video of the 'honor killing' of a woman and her lover in a remote part of Pakistan has ignited national outrage, prompting scrutiny of long-standing tribal codes and calls for justice in a country where such killings often pass in silence. While hundreds of so-called honor killings are reported in Pakistan each year, often with little public or legal response, the video of a woman and man accused of adultery being taken to the desert by a group of men to be killed has struck a nerve. The video shows the woman, Bano Bibi, being handed a Qur'an by a man identified by police as her brother. 'Come walk seven steps with me, after that you can shoot me,' she says, and she walks forward a few feet and stops with her back to the men. The brother, Jalal Satakzai, then shoots her three times and she collapses. Seconds later he shoots and kills the man, Ehsan Ullah Samalani, whom Bano was accused of having an affair with. Once the video of the killings in Pakistan's Balochistan province went viral, it brought swift government action and condemnation from politicians, rights groups and clerics. Civil rights lawyer Jibran Nasir said, though, the government's response was more about performance than justice. 'The crime occurred months ago, not in secrecy but near a provincial capital, yet no one acted until 240 million witnessed the killing on camera,' he said. 'This isn't a response to a crime. It's a response to a viral moment.' Police have arrested 16 people in Balochistan's Nasirabad district, including a tribal chief and the woman's mother. The mother, Gul Jan Bibi, said the killings were carried out by family and local elders based on 'centuries-old Baloch traditions,' and not on the orders of the tribal chief. 'We did not commit any sin,' she said in a video statement that also went viral. 'Bano and Ehsan were killed according to our customs.' She said her daughter, who had three sons and two daughters, had run away with Ehsan and returned after 25 days. Police said Bano's younger brother, who shot the couple, remains at large. Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti said it was a 'test' case and vowed to dismantle the illegal tribal courts operating outside the law. Police had earlier said a jirga, an informal tribal council that issues extrajudicial rulings, had ordered the killings. #JusticeForCouple The video sparked online condemnation, with hashtags like #JusticeForCouple and #HonourKilling trending. The Pakistan Ulema Council, a body of religious scholars, called the killings 'un-Islamic' and urged terrorism charges against those involved. Dozens of civil society members and rights activists staged a protest on Saturday in the provincial capital Quetta, demanding justice and an end to parallel justice systems. 'Virality is a double-edged sword,' said Arsalan Khan, a cultural anthropologist and professor who studies gender and masculinity. 'It can pressure the state into action, but public spectacle can also serve as a strategy to restore ghairat, or perceived family honor, in the eyes of the community.' Pakistan outlawed honor killings in 2016 after the murder of social media star Qandeel Baloch, closing a loophole that allowed perpetrators to go free if they were pardoned by family members. Rights groups say enforcement remains weak, especially in rural areas where tribal councils still hold sway. 'In a country where conviction rates often fall to single digits, visibility – and the uproar it brings – has its advantages,' said constitutional lawyer Asad Rahim Khan. 'It jolts a complacent state that continues to tolerate jirgas in areas beyond its writ.' The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan reported at least 405 honor killings in 2024. Most victims are women, often killed by relatives claiming to defend family honor. Khan said rather than enforcing the law, the government has spent the past year weakening the judiciary and even considering reviving jirgas in former tribal areas. 'It's executive inaction, most shamefully toward women in Balochistan,' Khan said. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in recent months has asked senior ministers to evaluate proposals to revive jirgas in Pakistan's former tribal districts, including potential engagement with tribal elders and Afghan authorities. The Prime Minister's Office and Pakistan's information minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Viral and then forgotten? The Balochistan killings were raised in Pakistan's Senate, where the human rights committee condemned the murders and called for action against those who convened the jirga. Lawmakers also warned that impunity for parallel justice systems risked encouraging similar violence. Activists and analysts, however, say the outrage is unlikely to be sustained. 'There's noise now, but like every time, it will fade,' said Jalila Haider, a human rights lawyer in Quetta. 'In many areas, there is no writ of law, no enforcement. Only silence.' Haider said the killings underscore the state's failure to protect citizens in under-governed regions like Balochistan, where tribal power structures fill the vacuum left by absent courts and police. 'It's not enough to just condemn jirgas,' Haider said. 'The real question is: why does the state allow them to exist in the first place?'
Al Arabiya
2 days ago
- Al Arabiya
Viral ‘honor' killings in southwest Pakistan trigger nationwide outrage
A viral video of the 'honor killing' of a woman and her lover in a remote part of Pakistan has ignited national outrage, prompting scrutiny of long-standing tribal codes and calls for justice in a country where such killings often pass in silence. While hundreds of so-called honor killings are reported in Pakistan each year, often with little public or legal response, the video of a woman and man accused of adultery being taken to the desert by a group of men to be killed has struck a nerve. The video shows the woman, Bano Bibi, being handed a Quran by a man identified by police as her brother. 'Come walk seven steps with me, after that you can shoot me,' she says, and she walks forward a few feet and stops with her back to the men. The brother, Jalal Satakzai, then shoots her three times and she collapses. Seconds later he shoots and kills the man, Ehsan Ullah Samalani, whom Bano was accused of having an affair with. Once the video of the killings in Pakistan's Balochistan province went viral, it brought swift government action and condemnation from politicians, rights groups and clerics. Civil rights lawyer Jibran Nasir said, though, the government's response was more about performance than justice. 'The crime occurred months ago, not in secrecy but near a provincial capital, yet no one acted until 240 million witnessed the killing on camera,' he said. 'This isn't a response to a crime. It's a response to a viral moment.' Police have arrested 16 people in Balochistan's Nasirabad district, including a tribal chief and the woman's mother. The mother, Gul Jan Bibi, said the killings were carried out by family and local elders based on 'centuries-old Baloch traditions', and not on the orders of the tribal chief. 'We did not commit any sin,' she said in a video statement that also went viral. 'Bano and Ehsan were killed according to our customs.' She said her daughter, who had three sons and two daughters, had run away with Ehsan and returned after 25 days. Police said Bano's younger brother, who shot the couple, remains at large. Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti said it was a 'test' case and vowed to dismantle the illegal tribal courts operating outside the law. Police had earlier said a jirga, an informal tribal council that issues extrajudicial rulings, had ordered the killings. #JusticeForCouple The video sparked online condemnation, with hashtags like #JusticeForCouple and #HonourKilling trending. The Pakistan Ulema Council, a body of religious scholars, called the killings 'un-Islamic' and urged terrorism charges against those involved. Dozens of civil society members and rights activists staged a protest on Saturday in the provincial capital Quetta, demanding justice and an end to parallel justice systems. 'Virality is a double-edged sword,' said Arsalan Khan, a cultural anthropologist and professor who studies gender and masculinity. 'It can pressure the state into action, but public spectacle can also serve as a strategy to restore ghairat, or perceived family honor, in the eyes of the community.' Pakistan outlawed honor killings in 2016 after the murder of social media star Qandeel Baloch, closing a loophole that allowed perpetrators to go free if they were pardoned by family members. Rights groups say enforcement remains weak, especially in rural areas where tribal councils still hold sway. 'In a country where conviction rates often fall to single digits, visibility - and the uproar it brings - has its advantages,' said constitutional lawyer Asad Rahim Khan. 'It jolts a complacent state that continues to tolerate jirgas in areas beyond its writ.' The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan reported at least 405 honor killings in 2024. Most victims are women, often killed by relatives claiming to defend family honor. Khan said rather than enforcing the law, the government has spent the past year weakening the judiciary and even considering reviving jirgas in former tribal areas. 'It's executive inaction, most shamefully toward women in Balochistan,' Khan said. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in recent months has asked senior ministers to evaluate proposals to revive jirgas in Pakistan's former tribal districts, including potential engagement with tribal elders and Afghan authorities. The Prime Minister's Office and Pakistan's information minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Viral and then forgotten? The Balochistan killings were raised in Pakistan's Senate, where the human rights committee condemned the murders and called for action against those who convened the jirga. Lawmakers also warned that impunity for parallel justice systems risked encouraging similar violence. Activists and analysts, however, say the outrage is unlikely to be sustained. 'There's noise now, but like every time, it will fade,' said Jalila Haider, a human rights lawyer in Quetta. 'In many areas, there is no writ of law, no enforcement. Only silence.' Haider said the killings underscore the state's failure to protect citizens in under-governed regions like Balochistan, where tribal power structures fill the vacuum left by absent courts and police. 'It's not enough to just condemn jirgas,' Haider said.
Arab News
7 days ago
- Arab News
Father kills daughter, nephew in latest ‘honor killing' case in Pakistan's Balochistan
QUETTA, Pakistan: A father has shot and killed his teenage daughter and nephew in a so-called 'honor killing' in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, police said on Wednesday, days after a similar killing sparked outrage across the country. The incident took place Tuesday evening in the Lashar Abad area along Quetta's Qambrani Road, and came just days after a viral video showed a young couple being executed in a separate honor killing in Balochistan's Digari area in Quetta district. That case, involving a tribal jirga ordering the deaths of a woman and man over an alleged illicit relationship, has drawn widespread condemnation and renewed calls for legal reform. According to Abdul Majeed, the Station House Officer of Kechi Baig Police Station, the latest victims were identified as Ghulam Qadir, 19, and Nazneen, 18. 'The slain man and woman were cousins and the father, named Abdul Latif, shot and killed both his daughter and nephew inside his house,' Majeed told Arab News. 'The girl was from the Lehri tribe and the boy hailed from the Rind tribe.' The officer said the killings were motivated by accusations of an 'illicit relationship' between the pair, adding that the case had been handed over to the Serious Crime Investigation Wing (SCIW) and a search was underway for the father, who was on the run. The family of the male victim had retrieved his body for burial, but no one from the girl's family had come forward to claim her, Majeed added. Rights groups say honor killings - the murder of individuals, often women, by relatives for allegedly tarnishing family 'honor' - remain widespread in Pakistan, particularly in tribal and rural regions. Activists estimate as many as 1,000 deaths a year in the name of so-called honor. Although Pakistan passed a landmark law in 2016 to close loopholes that once allowed families to 'forgive' perpetrators, conviction rates remain extremely low, often below 2 percent, according to UN estimates. The recent video from Balochistan, showing the execution-style killing of a couple in the Digari area in Quetta district, reignited public debate over jirga justice and the state's failure to prevent such crimes. Police said 11 suspects had been arrested in the Digari case, including two men named in the first information report (FIR) filed by police after the killing. That attack, caught on video, appeared to show the victims being shot in a mountainous area on the orders of a tribal council.
