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31-07-2025
By SJA Jafri
ISLAMABAD/ RAWALPINDI: The father and ex-husband of a victim allegedly killed on the orders of a local council are among nine people arrested in eastern Pakistan in connection with the young woman’s death.
Police said Sidra Bibi, 18, was killed allegedly on the orders of a local council of elders in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, after she married a man of her own choosing.
Her relatives 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 killings with such motivations 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.
According to Sustainable Social Development Organization (SSDO), an Islamabad-based independent organization, more than 32,000 cases of gender-based violence were reported nationwide last year, including 547 similar murders.
Killings in which family members kill women for actions perceived as bringing shame to the family have increased in recent years.
Last week, police in southwestern Balochistan province arrested 13 suspects after a video shared online appeared to show a young couple being shot dead for marrying without their families’ approval.
Police confirmed the authenticity of the footage, which went viral, saying the killings happened in May near Balochistan’s capital, Quetta.
In January, police arrested a Pakistani man suspected of killing his US-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.”
Almost a week ago, Pakistani authorities have arrested at least 13 individuals, including a tribal leader, in connection with the killing of a couple in the southwestern province of Balochistan.
The arrests followed nationwide outrage over a video depicting the murders went viral on social media, with many calling it yet another case of “honor killing”, a phenomenon reported from across South Asia.
The first information report (FIR) filed by the police on Monday identifies the couple as Bano Bibi and her husband Ehsan Ullah, and says they were likely killed in May near Balochistan’s capital Quetta.
Honor killings, mainly reported from Pakistan and India, often arise from perceived family, tribal or caste dishonor, especially in love marriages, in which the two partners marry without the consent of their families or tribe, or elope. Many such killings go unreported.
Balochistan police official Syed Suboor Agha told media they are investigating the matter and are likely to make more arrests, including Bano’s brother, who is suspected of the murders and “is still at large”.
