Cliff Notes – Police arrest suspect in honour killing video
- A suspect has been arrested in Pakistan after a viral video depicted a man and woman being shot for marrying against familial wishes, highlighting the issue of “honour killings.”
- The killings were reportedly ordered by a local tribe council in Balochistan, where similar cases are common to restore family reputation and social standing.
- Despite some legal reforms, around 1,000 women are killed annually in Pakistan through honour killings, often with killers escaping punishment due to a legal loophole allowing families to make peace and provide pardons.
Pakistani Police arrest suspect in honour killing video on Sunday after a viral video on social media showed a man and a woman being shot and killed for marrying against their family’s wishes.
The practice, known as “honour killing,” is a fairly prevalent one in Pakistan and some neighbouring countries where eloped couples are killed to “restore” the family’s social standing and reputation. Honour killings also occur in other situations where the partiarch deems the family’s honour has been affected by women’s actions.
In this instance, the unidentified couple was shot on the orders of a local tribe council in the southwestern Balochistan province, local authorities ascertained after an investigation.
Provincial chief minister Sarfraz Bugti, in a statement, said one of the suspects had been arrested under terrorism laws once the people in the video were identified.
What did the honour killing video show?
The video, taken in a desert amid pickup trucks, shows the woman being given a copy of the Quran. She then tells a man: “Come walk seven steps with me, after that you can shoot me.”
The man followed her for a few steps when she said, “You are allowed only to shoot me. Nothing more than that.”
The man then aimed the pistol at her and shot her three times. The woman did not cry or seek mercy but simply dropped to the ground after the third shot. The video then showed the bloody corpse of a man lying on the ground beside her. The men are then shown shooting at both bodies.
WTX News could not independently verify the video.
An oppressive practice
Some 1,000 women are killed in Pakistan by close relatives, usually fathers, brothers or sons, every year in honour killings, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
In most cases, the killer escapes punishment due to a controversial clause in Pakistan’s Islamic law which allows relatives of the victim to pardon the killer. While the nation moved to partially abolish the law in 2016, honour killings are still practiced.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif shared the video on X, urging people to stand up against unjust and oppressive systems instead of raising their weapons against the state.
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