4 women murdered for celebrating at a wedding

[Zostrianos]

Islamists in Pakistan taking the savagery of honour killings to a whole new level:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18341379

Officials in Pakistan are travelling to a remote north-western region to find out if four women, who apparently sang and watched as two men danced, have been murdered in an honour killing.
Video footage of the men and women, who gathered as part of a wedding celebration, has been widely seen.
Villagers say the women were later killed. Local officials deny this.
The men in the video appeared in court on Wednesday charged with creating conditions for tribal violence.
Local officials not only failed to produce the women in the court on Wednesday but were also unable to produce any proof they were still alive, as directed by the court earlier.
Tribal elders' decree? The video, first circulated about two months ago, shows four women sitting on the floor of a room, chatting and singing wedding songs while clapping their hands. A fifth woman is said have been an accomplice.
A decree was allegedly issued by tribal elders for them to be killed because it was thought their actions brought dishonour to their community which frowns on men and women fraternising or dancing together.
Also seen in the video are two young brothers, one of whom dances to the sound of the women's song. The other films the video, at one point turning the camera to himself.
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says that there is no shot of the men and women together, and it is unclear if they were in the same place at the same time.
On Wednesday, the Chief Secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province - where the incident in Kohistan district is alleged to have happened - argued that local custom did not allow women to travel in male company or face questions from male members of a judicial bench.
He said this could lead to local legal complications.
He suggested that a commission be constituted, including officials and human rights activists, to conduct an inquiry in Kohistan and submit its report to the court.
But the court ordered that the women, if they were alive, should be brought to Islamabad.
It suggested that the authorities should take some women activists with them who could provide the Kohistani women with female company during their journey.
The village is at least two days' journey on foot from the nearest highway, and only helicopters can reach the area quickly.

[piet11111]

I always dislike such articles because even if this is what happened the newspaper only makes the article with the angle of "look at what those barbaric muslims did" normally 4 women being murdered in Pakistan is not going to make the news in the West.

That said i hope that those women turn up alive and well but what are the odds of a follow up article if that is the case.

[Prometeo liberado]

With only this scant article to go on no reasonable analysis can be expected. Unfortunately if something like this did really happen then it will happen again.:(

[Zostrianos]

Here's a couple other sites reporting on this story:
http://dawn.com/2012/06/07/kohistan-girls-case-remains-a-mystery/

Apparently there's a lot of pressure on people in the area to deny the murders; the Islamists have threatened locals with death if they talk too much.

ISLAMABAD, June 6: Despite clear instructions by the Supreme Court to produce the five women reportedly killed on the orders of a tribal jirga in Kohistan for dancing with boys at a wedding ceremony, Wednesday saw the court quibbling with a line of government officials over their failure to present substantial proof that the girls are alive.
Without doubt the greatest irony is that even though the alleged murders reportedly took place a week ago, on May 30, the
claim has still not been substantiated despite best efforts of the government and Supreme Court.
Officials claim it did not happen.
No wonder then that Wednesday’s morning saw an unhappy bench — composed of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Jawwad S. Khwaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain — unwilling to understand the versions of various officials who had returned from the first investigative mission and reported that they had not found any evidence of the reported murders.
One by one, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Ghulam Dastgir, Home Secretary Azam Khan, the deputy inspector
general of Hazara, Divisional Commissioner Khalid Umarzai and other officials came on the podium to inform the court what they had found in their investigative trip to Kohistan. They all said the same thing again and again, “The murders have not happened.”
And again and again the chief justice replied with the same question, “Have you talked to the girls? Do you have any proof they are alive?” In fact at one point, an exasperated Justice Khawaja asked everyone in the courtroom, “Has anyone here talked to the girls?” and got complete silence in reply.
The proceedings were a game of cajoling details out of the officials at hand who were convinced that the murder reports were false.
The DIG Hazara informed the court that state investigations started as soon as the reports had emerged. “We talked to people from three villages, we wanted to meet the girls and we took a Kohistan official, we talked to the local people and visited the graveyard. No one came forward to tell us that such an incident had taken place.
“We found the religious scholar who is supposed to have given the fatwa; he denied giving any such decree. We even took him to the village and he said that the last time he had visited that village was three years ago,” the DIG said.
The court also questioned a very cooperative Rehman Malik, the PM’s adviser on interior affairs, about the investigation of the day before, who had to repeatedly explain why no women were taken on the helicopter if the area was a conservative one where women did not meet outsiders.
“This is a problem of mindset – a number of men went to investigate, talked to more men and came back. If you had taken women with you and talked to them, the problem would have been solved,” Justice Khwaja said.
It certainly does not help that the incident took place in a place that no-one seems to be able to place on a map.
The KP chief secretary and home secretary found themselves explaining to the court repeatedly how Sartai village was a two days’ walk from the Karakoram Highway with the nearest location, Pattan. The only quick way to approach it is on helicopter and that too if weather conditions are favourable.
The conclusion, however, was that the women need to be found if they are alive. The court declared to the commissioner: “If you are a commissioner, go get the women or go home.”
Within hours a helicopter was prepared with four women, including Riffat Butt and Farzana Bari, accompanying officials to find the girls and bring them back by evening the same day.
According to most recent updates from Ms Riffat, the team had reached Pattan and talked to a number of people, but had to postpone further travel to the actual village until Thursday morning because of weather conditions.
While the Supreme Court put the investigative process on the fast course with sheer determination, another aspect of the case unfolded with regard to Muhammad Afzal, the man who broke the news to the media and brother of the two men who were dancing in the video along with the five women.
Both Afzal and his brother Bin Yamin (one of the brothers from the video) came to the court and recorded their versions.
“These women have been killed,” they said and gave the names of all five. They also gave the names of four men who, according to them, had been appointed as witnesses for the murders of the women.
In a flurry of quick comments with the press outside the court, Afzal elaborated that some influential people, including government officials, were part of the jirga and they were trying to cover up the incident.
“Around hundred members of my family have left their land and village and moved because they are in danger from the tribe that killed those women. I am not here without reason, my life is in danger,” he said.
“Dancing is not such a big sin to warrant punishment by death, but the fact that it was recorded and leaked out made it a matter of reputation, and now I am in danger from local officials who want to cover up the whole thing and this is why I came here to find security in Islamabad,” said Afzal as he was rushed off.
The truth will come to light as the current team brings latest news from the village of Sartai which has come under the spotlight for a crime that cannot be substantiated.


http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2012/06/06/news/national/kohistan-boy-claims-five-girls-killed-by-jirga/


ISLAMABAD - Muhammad Afzal, brother of two boys dancing in the video, Wednesday again claimed that the girls were killed on May 30 because of a Fatwah given by Molana Javed of Mansehra.
Talking to the media after appearing before the apex court in the Kohistan suo motu case, he said Bazgha, Amina, Shaheen, Begum and another girl were slaughtered on directions by the local Jarga.
“All the five girls Bazgar, Amna, Shaheen, Begum and one more have been killed by the jirga on May 30 and I have four witnesses of the killing,” he said.
Muhammad Afzal said the cleric of Mansehra Mollana Javed along with local Jirga members gave a Fatwa to kill these girls for dancing with boys.
He told the media that three of the deceased girls were real sisters and two of them were relatives.
To a query Muhammad Afzal said that his brothers and other neutral witnesses told him about the killing of five girls.
Afzal said he and his brothers have received life threats and added that the local police has failed to protect them.
“We have life threats from commissioner Hazara and DIG Hazara,” he added. “No action is being taken against the murderers of these girls.”
He said that the jirga had sent 40 to 50 people to kill him and his brothers. He added that five men of his family would be killed against the killing of five girls.

[Prometeo liberado]

Maybe there is something I'm missing here. Am I to believe that as women are considered lesser beings that they are also to posses a a heightened state of awareness and responsibility when comes to letting the men in the room know that they may be killed if they dance with them present? These murderers are wise enough to pass judgment but not wise enough to leave the room thus being accomplices in this crime?

[Zostrianos]

It's the same twisted logic they use to justify killing rape victims: if a woman gets raped, it's her fault because it means she seduced her attackers :thumbdown: