Pak police arrest 11 suspects after 'honour killing' video goes viral

    Karachi, Jul 21 (PTI) A video showing the murder of a couple in an apparent honour killing went viral on social media in Pakistan, prompting the police to arrest 11 people in connection with the case in Balochistan province.
    The video showed a group of men leading a couple out of vehicles and into a desert before gunning them down with pistols and shooting the bodies.  
    Political figures and activists said it was an ‘honour’ killing incident.
    The incident sparked outrage in the country, with civil society, religious scholars, and political leaders all calling for the arrest and exemplary punishment for the perpetrators of the gruesome crime.
    Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti on Monday confirmed that 11 people have been arrested. They are suspected of being behind the "honour killing" of the couple.
    A first information report (FIR) was registered by the Station House Officer Naveed Akhtar at Quetta’s Hanna-Urak police station, the Dawn newspaper reported.
    Akhtar said he lodged the complaint after receiving the video clip that had gone viral on social media.
    Akhtar said that upon investigation, his team discovered that the incident occurred three days before Eid-ul Azha.
    “The victims seen in the viral video have been identified as Bano Bibi and Ihsanullah,” the FIR said, naming eight suspects who allegedly shot the couple dead.     The FIR also mentioned 15 other unknown suspects involved in the incident.
    “Owing to the nature of the murder, the case has now been transferred to the Serious Crime Investigation Wing for further investigation," the newspaper quoted Akhtar as saying.
    Prior to being killed, the victims were allegedly taken to a tribal leader, who declared them guilty of being involved in an ‘immoral relationship’ and ordered their execution, following which they were taken to the desert and shot dead, the FIR said.
    “The murder was filmed and uploaded to social media to spread fear and panic among the public,” it added.
    The men in the video were heard speaking the Brahui language, spoken in many parts of Balochistan.
    Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari called the suspects “beasts”, saying that they deserved no concessions.
    Baloch activist Sammi Deen Baloch decried the shooting as an ‘honour’ killing, appealing to Baloch elders to “respect women’s decisions”.
    “As a woman, this chilling incident is deeply painful and heart-wrenching for me,” she wrote on X. “Killing any woman in the name of honour is not only a heinous crime but also the worst humiliation of humanity.
    Honour killings continue to claim many lives in Pakistan every year.
    The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said in a report that in 2024, there were at least 405 victims of recorded honour killing cases in the country.
    Earlier this year, a man who recently moved his family back to Pakistan from the US confessed to killing his teenage daughter because he disapproved of her making TikTok videos.
    In another incident,  a father shot dead his 20-year-old daughter and her boyfriend in Malir district of Sindh province after they eloped to get married.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)