KARACHI: Police in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province have arrested parents of a 10-year-old girl for allegedly stoning her to death earlier this month, officials said on Sunday.
“We have arrested four people, including the girl’s parents, the prayer leader of a mosque and another man,” Senior Superintendent Police Dr. Farrukh Raza told Arab News, adding that investigation was underway to identify other culprits and determine if all these individuals acted on the instruction of a jirga that was reportedly convened by influential political leaders of the vicinity.
Raza said police decided to gather relevant information about the incident after it was reported that a young girl from Dadu district, whose age was around 10 or 11, had been killed in the name of honor.
“Consequently, Maulvi Mumtaz Ali Laghari, who led the girl’s funeral prayer, was located and brought to the police station for questioning,” the official said, adding that the detained cleric helped the police trace the whereabouts of the girl’s parents.
“The parents of the girls claimed it was an accidental death. However, given the sensitivity of the matter, they were taken into custody for further investigation and brought to the police station in Wahi Pandhi District Dadu,” he continued, adding that a criminal case had been registered and an investigation was launched.
According to the police, the girl expired on November 21 or 22. The authorities have also applied for the exhumation of the body after which post mortem will be conducted to ascertain the cause of death, Raza informed.
“An impartial investigation is underway to examine different facets of the incident. We are also investigating if a jirga was involved in all of this,” he said.
Meanwhile, the first information report (FIR), a copy of which is available with Arab News, says that a man named Ali Bux Rind took the help of his relative, Ali Nawaz, and other unknown individuals to mercilessly stone his daughter, Gul Sama, to death.
Maulvi Mumtaz Leghari, who performed the funeral prayer, and a shopkeeper, Taj Muhammad Rustami, who had sold the family the burial shroud, were also nominated in the FIR.
“Leghari told us he was approached by the relatives of the girl to perform her funeral prayer and arrange the coffin,” Deputy Superintendent Police Pir Bux Chandio told Arab News. “He also claimed that he had asked if the girl was an adult, adding that the people told him she was about eight to 10 years old.”
According to the Honor-Based Violence Awareness Network (HBVAN), almost one-fifth of 5,000 “honor killings” around the globe occur in Pakistan. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in 2017 listed 460 cases of reported “honor killings” in which about 376 victims were female.
