Teenage couple electrocuted in Karachi 'honour killing'

Teenagers were told to have brought dishonour to the community by the jirga.

KARACHI: A teenage couple who tried to elope was murdered with electric shocks in an "honour killing" by family members who were carrying out the orders of an influential tribal council, police said.

The teenagers in Karachi were said to have brought dishonour to the community by the Pashtun council of elders, or jirga.

"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, the police personnel said. "The girl was killed and buried first, followed by the murder of the boy the next day," he added.

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 organisation that works in the area.