Relatives suspected of honour killing as woman electrocuted

Relatives of a young woman in eastern Pakistan are suspected of electrocuting her for marrying a man against their wishes, a punishment reportedly ordered by a village council for dishonouring her family.

Police arrested 21-year-old Saima Bibi's father and three of her uncles yesterday, a day after authorities seized her body, which showed signs of having been electrocuted, said Afzal Lodhi, a police official in Bahawalpur district in eastern Punjab province, where the death occurred.

"She has torture marks and burns on various parts of her body," said Mr Lodhi.

Police seized Ms Bibi's body after receiving a tip from a local villager who said there was something suspicious about her death, said Mr Lodhi. Contradictory statements by Ms Bibi's family also raised suspicion after they claimed she had poisoned herself, he said.

Authorities are awaiting an autopsy report to be certain of the cause of death, said Bahawalpur police chief Babar Bakht.

Ms Bibi's father, Abdul Majeed, denied that relatives killed her and said she took poison because she did not want to marry the man proposed by her family, said Mr Lodhi.

Ms Bibi eloped about a month ago with another villager, Dilawar Manzoor. The couple got married in the southern port city of Karachi, Mr Lodhi said. The woman's relatives lured her back about a week ago by falsely promising they would agree to her marriage, he said.

"Her father, uncles and other relatives later refused to fulfil her wish because they said the boy comes from a lower caste," he said.

The groom's father, Manzoor Hussain, said a village council, or panchayat, sentenced her to death after she returned, for dishonouring her family. He accused her relatives of electrocuting her.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani took "serious notice" of "the sad incident of the killing of a girl by electric current on the orders of the panchayat", and ordered police to immediately submit a report, his office said yesterday.

A woman is stigmatised as a "kari", or "black woman", if she is accused of having sex outside of marriage.

Her killing would be justified under tribal customs.

So-called honour killings are a widespread problem in Pakistan, where women are often murdered by their relatives for entering marriages not approved by family, or for allegedly having sexual relations out of wedlock. The majority of victims come from poor, rural families.

Pakistan's independent Human Rights Commission said in its latest report that nearly 650 women were killed in that way during 2009.

The report also detailed a rise in the number of acid attacks on women, which are meant to disfigure those who have "shamed" their family.

In 2009, there was widespread public anger in Pakistan after a video surfaced of a woman being whipped by the Taleban in the Swat Valley.

The government had signed a deal with a local extremist cleric to keep its security forces out of the region. The army later moved in and cleared the area of militants.