HRCP slams woman's 'brutal' murder in Abbottabad

Ambreen was drugged, strangled and her body burnt in a van on the orders of a jirga in Makol village

ISLAMABAD: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Friday condemned a jirga (village council) for ordering the brutal murder of a young woman after she helped a friend to elope.

The woman, believed to be around 16 to 18 years old, was drugged, strangled and her body burnt in a Suzuki van on the orders of the Makol village jirga in Abottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on April 29 -- her murder a so-called honour killing.

"It is impossible to not be astounded by the brutality and ruthlessness of those who ordered and oversaw the callous mowing down of a young person...in order to satisfy their notions of cultural proprietary," independent HRCP said in a statement.



"The criminal actions of the jirga must be condemned unreservedly by all those who stand for rule of law and the right to life itself."

Police have arrested 13 members of the jirga who ordered the murder of the girl. The victim's mother was also arrested, a police officer said, because she supported the decision.

An anti-terrorism court on Thursday remanded the 14 suspects in police custody for two weeks on murder and terrorism charges.

Hundreds of women are murdered by their relatives in the country each year on the pretext of defending family "honour", but it is rare to hear of those who facilitate elopements being killed as well.



The criminal code was amended in 2005 to prevent men who kill female relatives escaping punishment by pardoning themselves as an "heir" of the victim.

But it is left to a judge's discretion to decide whether to impose a prison sentence when other relatives of the victim forgive the killer -- a loophole which critics say remains exploited.



"A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness" -- a film telling the story of a rare survivor of an attempted honour killing -- won the Academy Award for best documentary short in February.

Amid publicity for the film, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to eradicate the "evil" of honour killings but no fresh legislation has been tabled since then.