KARACHI: A suspect has been arrested for involvement in a recent “honor killing” of a couple in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, a provincial government spokesman said on Sunday, after a disturbing video of the incident went viral online.
The video clip, which shows the couple being shot at by armed men for marrying of their choice, has sparked nationwide outrage and calls for bringing the perpetrators to justice as well as the safety of basic human rights in the region.
Speaking at a press conference in Karachi, Balochistan government spokesman Shahid Rind said the incident captured in the viral video had taken place in Balochistan around Eid Al-Adha holiday.
“This area [where the incident took place] has been identified,” Rind said. “Both families did not report the incident. We will have a case registered with the state as complainant.”
The couple had been executed on the orders of a jirga, a council of tribal elders, according to reports.
Rind said they had taken data of the suspects after their identification through the viral video clip.
“Raids are being conducted to arrest other suspects,” he said, adding the government will not consider any kind of pressure.
So-called honor killings are common in Pakistan, where family members and relatives sometimes kill women and men who don’t follow local traditions and culture or decide to marry of their own choice.
On Sunday, the Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC), a group of clerics and religious scholars, said killing of a woman or a man in the name of honor is “un-Islamic, anti-Sharia and terrorism” and terrorism cases should be filed against people involved in such incidents.
“Pakistan Ulema Council demands of Chief Minister Balochistan, Governor Balochistan and IGP Balochistan to arrest the culprits who killed a woman under ‘Honour Killing’ as depicted in a viral video on social media,” the council said in a statement.
“Those killers should be tried in the Terrorism Court and the culprits should be prosecuted at the very place in the same way.”
