Father, three relatives of woman held for ‘honour killing’ in Pakistan

Pakistani police have arrested four individuals, among them a man who killed his teenage daughter following instructions from family elders.

This action was reportedly prompted by her appearance in a viral picture with a man on social media, police said on Wednesday (29).

The police said the 18-year-old woman was shot dead by her father last week in the northwestern Kolai-Palas valley near the Afghan border after her relatives advised him to do so.

The relatives also called for a so-called honour killing of the woman's friend who appeared with her in the picture, but he is in protective custody.

The father, Arslan Mohsin, and three relatives have been arrested and produced before a court, police official Masood Khan said, adding that more arrests were pending.

Every year, hundreds of women in predominantly Muslim Pakistan are victims of honour killings, carried out by relatives professing to be acting in defence of a family's honour, rights group say, often in deeply conservative rural areas.

Public images of women are considered taboo in the tribal areas.

The women's families or elders involved in the case were not able to be reached for comment.

Pakistani lawmakers have called for strict punishment for the alleged killers, and rights groups have expressed concerns over the country's failure to stamp out such crimes.

Despite tighter laws and societal outrage in Pakistan, honour killings continue, with 384 instances reported by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in 2022 alone, said Nadia Rahman of South Asia regional office at Amnesty International.

"The government of Pakistan and law enforcement agencies are urged to provide protection to the survivors in this case and prosecute those involved without recourse to the death penalty," she added.

(Reuters)