An 18-year-old girl has allegedly been killed by her own family after being sentenced to death by village elders for dancing with a boy in a video that went viral on social media in Pakistan.
The killing occurred on Sunday, November 26, in the village of Barsharyal in Pakistan’s mountainous Kohistan region,
The incident is being investigated by Pakistani police as a potential honour killing.
It was gathered that a friend who also appeared in the video was sentenced to death as well but was rescued by police before it could be carried out.
Masood Khan, deputy superintendent of police in the Kolai-Palas district, said: ‘They shot dead one of them while police rescued the second one.
‘We have launched an investigation to trace those who killed the girl and who either advised or convened a jirga (the village elders) and sentenced her to death.’
He added that nobody was above the law and all those involved in the brutal killing would be brought to justice at any cost.
The second girl, who was rescued by the police due to the expected threats to her life, was returned home with her father soon after, as a senior civil judge ruled that her life was not in any danger.
The boys who appeared in the videos have also gone into hiding, fearing reprisals.
Dr Farzana Bari, a human rights activist told Geo.tv of her concern for the safety of the second girl.
She believed that she would likely be murdered sooner or later and remains under serious threat, continuing that ‘she has probably been misguided by her family. Knowing the kind of mindset that exists in the area, I think this girl would be killed.’
The caretaker chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Syed Irshad Hussain Shah, said he had ordered police to arrest those responsible.
‘We are investigating,’ Khan said, adding that male relatives of the young woman were believed to be involved in the killing, as public images of women are considered taboo in the area.