KARACHI: A Pakistani teenage couple who tried to elope were murdered with electric shocks in an “honor killing” by family members who were carrying out the orders of an influential tribal council, police said.
The teenagers in the port city of Karachi were said by the Pashtun council of elders, or jirga, to have brought dishonor on the community.
“The innocent souls were tied to a charpai (rope bed) and given electric shocks,” said Aman Marwat, the police officer who arrested the two fathers and two uncles and is pursuing some 30 members of the jirga who have gone into hiding.
The 15-year-old girl had allegedly run away with her 17-year-old boyfriend last month, Marwat said.
“The girl was killed and buried first followed by the murder of the boy the next day,” he added.
More than 500 people — almost all women — die in Pakistan each year in such killings, usually carried out by members of the victim’s family meting out punishment for bringing “shame” on the community.
Marwat, who has been in the police for 25 years, said he has dealt with many honor killing cases happening in Karachi.
“It indicates a tribalization of society where jirgas exercise more power than law enforcers,” said Zohra Yusuf, a human rights activist in Pakistan.
Jirgas are often convened, particularly in conservative rural areas, to settle local disputes especially between poor families, and although they operate outside the law, their decisions are often honored and ignored by authorities.
In this case, the two families had come to an agreement for the pair to get married, together with a financial settlement to be paid to the girl’s family, according to Kamal Shah, of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, a non-governmental organization that works in the area.
“The girl’s side had agreed but not the jirga and they warned that if the two families did not carry out the barbaric deed, their family in their village back home would have to bear the consequences,” said Zia Ur Rehman, a Pakistani journalist who first reported on the case.
The case highlights the influence of tribal councils and social pressures in Pakistan, which are often more powerful than the law.
“Laws seem useless,” said Maliha Zia Lari, associate director with Karachi-based Legal Aid Society. “The boy’s father did not think he could seek protection from the state and the jirga members did not fear any reprisals from it either.”
Teenage couple electrocuted in Pakistan in ‘honor killing’
Teenage couple electrocuted in Pakistan in ‘honor killing’
Grand jury declines to indict man in shooting that killed teen at Kentucky State University
- After the grand jury decision, Kentucky State officials said they “will cooperate with law enforcement and investigators as appropriate” and are focused on student safety and well-being
FRANKFORT, Kentucky: A grand jury has declined to indict the father of two Kentucky State University students who was charged with murder in an on-campus shooting that killed one student and critically injured another.
In a social media post after the Tuesday hearing, defense attorney Scott Danks said grand jurors decided not to indict his client, Jacob Lee Bard, for the Dec. 9 shooting and he is out of jail. Bard’s attorneys have said that 20 to 30 people had gathered to attack his son and family, and that he was justified in shooting two people who were beating his son.
After the grand jury decision, Kentucky State officials said they “will cooperate with law enforcement and investigators as appropriate” and are focused on student safety and well-being.
Bard’s attorneys say the family was moving their younger son out, with two armed campus police officers present, after withdrawing both sons from school because of “multiple armed, violent” incidents against them and other students in the days leading up to Dec. 9, some captured on security cameras.
When the family and an officer reached the dormitory entrance on the move-out day, the group of people in masks and hoods rushed out and began violently assaulting the family and others, including beating the son’s head against the pavement, the attorneys said.
In October, the younger son reported a burglary in his dorm room to campus police and received threats of violence afterward, the attorneys said.
Because of continued death threats, the sons are now staying in an undisclosed location, the attorneys added.
“Jacob’s actions were absolutely justified under the law, and were the only measure that prevented his son’s death or serious injury,” the attorneys wrote.
Investigators have said the shooting was isolated, but they have not publicly shared details of the circumstances or a possible motive. The shooting killed 19-year-old De’Jon Fox of Indianapolis.
In a message to the campus community, Kentucky State said the grand jury decision “does not lessen the pain our community continues to feel, nor does it change our priorities.”
“Our commitment remains centered on supporting our students and ensuring Kentucky State University is a safe place to learn, live, and work,” it said.
The shooting was the second in four months near the residence hall. Someone fired multiple shots from a vehicle on Aug. 17, striking two people who the university said weren’t students. Frankfort police said one victim was treated for minor injuries and the second sustained serious injuries. The dorm and at least one vehicle were damaged by gunfire.
Police have said Bard, 48, is from Evansville, Indiana, which is about 150 miles (240 kilometers) west of Frankfort.
Kentucky State is a public historically Black university with about 2,200 students. Lawmakers authorized the school’s creation in 1886.
