KARACHI: A teen couple in Pakistan were electrocuted to death allegedly by their own families on the order of a tribal council after they eloped, in the latest case of honour killings in the country.
Authorities exhumed the bodies of the 16-year-old girl and her 18-year-old lover in Karachi's Ibrahim Hyderi area and the post-mortem conducted today confirmed that they were killed with electric shocks, police officer Amanullah Marwat said.
"The boy and the girl had eloped last month from their home in Ibrahim Hyderi but their families reached an agreement and persuaded them to come home, assuring marriage," he said. However, when the youngsters returned home, the matter was taken to the tribal council by their families.
A tribal council of elders of the ethnic Pashtun community ordered that they both be killed by electric shocks. "The post-mortem has confirmed they were killed with electric shocks. The boy was given electric shocks to his head and chest,” Marwat said.
Kamal Shah who runs the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum in Ibrahim Hyderi which is home to the fishermen community said they had brought the matter to the notice of the police after learning about the honour killing case.
"The two were apparently tied to a wooden charpoy and given electric shocks. The boy was killed by his father and uncle and the girl by her father and uncle,” Shah said. Another senior police official said that some members of the council had been arrested but the main elders are absconding.
Karachi, a metropolitan city, is a home to many ethnic groups with Pashtuns residing in different areas of the city in large numbers. Although tribal council of elders giving their verdict on disputes and honour cases is common in Pakistan’s tribal areas this tradition is also followed among Pashtun communities living in Karachi.