Honor Killing: 5 Women Buried Alive in Baluchistan

The victims were three women who wanted to choose their own husbands and two others who tried to help them. ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - The Pakistani government is looking into the deaths of five women who were buried alive in southwestern Baluchistan Province in so-called honor killings. News of the killings, which occurred six weeks ago, trickled out of the remote, tribal area slowly and with sketchy details. As described in an Aug. 21 statement by a French human rights group, the victims were three young women who had planned to marry men of their choice -- a blot on family honor -- and two older female relatives. All were kidnapped by several men on July 13 from their village, Baba Kot, in the Department of Jafferabad, and taken to a deserted area in a vehicle bearing provincial government plates, according to the group, the International Federation for Human Rights. The young women were beaten and shot, and, still breathing, covered with earth and stones. The two older women tried to intervene and were buried alive as well. The rights group said it based its account on information collected by an affiliated group, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. The Pakistani group is an independent organization based in Lahore. One of the men involved, according to the rights group's account, is a brother of Baluchistan's housing minister, a member of the Pakistan People's Party. The case ignited widespread protests last week after an opposition senator, Yasmeen Shah, accused the government of turning a blind eye to the killings and then trying to cover up the episode. She was interrupted by a senator from Baluchistan, Israr Ullah Zehri, who defended honor killings as "our norms" and said they should "not be highlighted negatively." After widespread public uproar, the government moved to support a Senate resolution condemning the killings. Various critics said the Pakistan People's Party was ignoring the episode while trying to secure Baluchistan's support for the leader of the party, Asif Ali ZardariAsif Ali Zardari, in Saturday's electoral college vote for president. A senior Interior Ministry official, Rehman MalikRehman Malik, said Monday that he had ordered an inquiry, to be completed in a week, and that three people had been arrested. In an interview, he denied the alleged link to the provincial minister and raised questions about descriptions of the case. "I have my doubts it is honor killing," he said. "There is a dispute whether it was due to honor killing or dispute over land. Let the final report come." Each year, hundreds of women in Pakistan are killed in the name of honor, according to rights groups, but most cases go unreported or are not properly investigated. Honor killings were banned in 2004 on penalty of death, but, as critics at the time warned, the new law was weak and proved ineffective. The practice remains rampant in rural areas. Much remains unclear about the current case, including what happened to the three men the young women had wanted to marry. "It was very difficult to ascertain the facts and names as it is a very conservative area, deeply entrenched in tribal customs and traditions," said Farid Ahmed, the provincial human rights coordinator.