Family slits throats of young couple over love marriage
The 17-year-old girl and 31-year-old man married on June 18 without the consent of their families, according to police.
The girl's mother and father lured the couple home late on Thursday with the promise that their marriage would receive a family blessing, said local police official Rana Zahid.
"When the couple reached there, they tied them with ropes," said Zahid. "He (the girl's father) cut their throats."
Police arrested the family, who said they had been embarrassed by the marriage of their daughter, named Muafia Hussein, to a man from a less important tribe.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said 869 so-called "honour killings" were reported in the media last year. But the true figure is probably much higher since many cases are never reported.
The government does not collect centralised statistics and has no strategy to combat the killings.
Even if a woman's killer is convicted, Pakistani law allows her family to forgive the killer. Many families simply nominate a member to do the killing, then formally forgive the killer.
That's what happened earlier this week, a lawyer said, when a tribal council in Muzaffargarh district sentenced another young couple to death for marrying for love.
The couple's lawyer, Zia Kiyyani, said the two had appealed for police protection after their marriage on June 21, but had not received any.
The 19-year-old girl's family came to take her from her husband's family, swearing on the Quran that they would not harm her and would hold a proper wedding ceremony, he said.
"During this the girl shouted, cried and mourned for her life and her husband's life because she knew that they will kill both of them," he said.
The girl, named Mehreen Bibi, was shot by a member of her family when she returned home, police said. Her husband went into hiding and her father registered the murder complaint so he could forgive the killer, Kiyyani said. "That will end the case," he said.
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@V. C. Bhutani: Mr Un-informed, Islam allows love marriages. A bride and groom have the right to chose the partner of their liking. Don't try and blend cultural backwardness with Islam. If you want to know what Islam is, read the scripture and not look at its followers, as they say.
In our land of pure only blowing up, maiming, murders and hatred is a part of everyday life. How dare they tried to love instead of hate.
It is about time that Pakistan states loudly and clearly: A woman has the right to marry whomever she likes.
@Mohammed Abbasi:
Is there any "honour" in killing a person? Pakistani system of administering justice is sheer barbarism at its height. I also marvel that no Pakistanis condemn or take preventive action against the killings of innocent civilians (elderly men, women and even toddlers) by terrorists in the name of Allah. Remember: when you maintain a pit of snakes, you can be sure they will crawl out of it and bite you first with their deadly venom.
For Pakistan and Pakistanis, the clock has stood still at AD 632.
Why is it always girl's family doing the killing?Means if it were their boy,they will happily condone it.So it is honor to dishonor others.And why these honorable people don't kill themselves for shame if they feel so dishonored?
What I intensely dislike is calling these murders 'honour killings' these are murders and whatever the justification from those who killed these innocents they should be tried as murderers. Calling any crime and sticking the word 'honour' in front of it is dishonorable