Police have arrested the brothers of an 18-year-old girl from Battagram and a 27-year-old man, identified as Gul Nawaz, after the two were allegedly killed in the name of honour on the orders of the local jirga.
Mansehra District Police Officer (DPO) Azhar Khan said that the suspects had disclosed during interrogation the jirga’s verdict that the man should be killed by his brother and the girl by hers.
The couple was subsequently taken to a secluded area and killed. The incident was not reported to the police, who took custody of the bodies after receiving information through their own sources and launched an investigation.
Police have so far arrested one brother each of both victims while raids are being carried out to arrest the people who attended the jirga.
DPO Khan said that everyone who participated in the jirga shared responsibility for the crime and will face legal action. He added that human life held the utmost value and that the authorities will punish everyone found involved in the killings in accordance with the law.
The case follows another alleged honour killing in Karachi a few weeks ago, when a 17-year-old girl was shot dead by her brother after her family learned that she had secretly gotten married without informing them.
Police identified the victim as Zarqa Bibi, daughter of Muhammad Rais Khan. She was shot once in the head at a house in Bismillah Colony, within the limits of Mominabad police station.
