Source: Global Times
【Global Times correspondent in Pakistan, Cheng Shijie】The Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported that a video of a couple in Balochistan province being subjected to "honor killing" has gone viral on the internet, and the realistic and brutal scenes have caused nationwide anger. On Pakistani social media, topics such as "seeking justice for this couple" have been continuously trending. On July 26, many people took to the streets, holding up signs with slogans like "No tribal law, but national law!", calling for the elimination of the culture of "honor killings" and other forms of extrajudicial punishment.
According to the report, in the video, a woman named Bano Bibi was shot by her own brother after being accused of running away with a man named Ura. Bano said to her brother, "You can wait for me to take seven steps, then shoot. Let this end here." With three gunshots, Bano fell to the ground, and her lover was also executed immediately afterward.
After the video was exposed, public criticism and anger were widespread. The Chief Minister of Balochistan, Bugti, held an emergency press conference and solemnly promised that the government would "not remain silent about this barbaric act."
Bugti stated that so far, the government has arrested 16 suspects, including Bano's mother Gul Jan Bibi and local tribal leaders, but the perpetrator who carried out the "honor killing"—Bano's brother—is still at large. Bugti said that the Balochistan provincial government will use this opportunity to legally deal with the perpetrators without external interference, to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
However, Bano's mother Gul made a video statement, arguing that she and her family members had not committed any crime. They only punished the wrongdoer according to the "ancient traditions of the Baloch people." She said that Bano had three sons and two daughters, yet chose to run away with someone else, and had been away from home for 25 days, which severely damaged the family's reputation.
The phenomenon of "honor killing" mainly occurs in the Baloch and Pashtun tribes in the northwest of Pakistan. Tribal leaders have the authority to convene meetings to sentence people who "bring shame to the tribe" to death, and the execution is directly carried out by tribal members. The criteria for determining "bringing shame" are usually defined subjectively by the tribal leaders, such as "having an unrecognized relationship between men and women," "dressing or behaving immodestly," or "disobeying the decisions of elders." The victims are mostly women.
According to the Dawn newspaper, although Pakistan declared "honor killing" as a criminal act in 2016, due to the limited jurisdiction of the government over related tribes, most cases of "honor killing" cannot be dealt with according to the law. Data from the Pakistan Human Rights Commission show that at least 346 citizens died from "honor killings" in 2024 alone.
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7532638395714257447/
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