MANSEHRA, Pakistan: In a case involving a viral video in the Kolai-Palas district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a young girl has allegedly been killed, and police have rescued another.
In the Barsharyal village of Kohistan’s Palas, located 150km northwest of Mansehra, a tragic incident occurred on Sunday as a young girl fell victim to orders of a local jirga. The distressing video, circulating on social media for approximately four days, also featured boys who have reportedly gone into hiding.
The girl’s dead body was moved to a nearby hospital, where medical-legal procedures were conducted before being handed over to her family. Deputy Superintendent of Police Palas, Masood Khan, informed the press that one of the two girls seen in the viral video had been killed.
At the same time, the other was rescued and brought before a local magistrate to provide a statement. The rescued girl expressed no perceived threat to her life from her family and opted to stay with them rather than being relocated to Dar-ul-Aman.
Masood Khan stated that the Station House Officer (SHO) of the Palas police station personally filed a first information report (FIR) for the murder under sections 302/311 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code. An investigation has been initiated to identify and apprehend those responsible for the murder, including those who advised or convened the jirga that pronounced the fatal sentence.
The Deputy Superintendent of Police emphasized that nobody is above the law, and everyone involved in this heinous act would be held accountable.
Jirgas, often responsible for meting out punishment in the name of honor, declare individuals as culprits and subject them to fatal consequences.
This tragic incident echoes a chilling event from over a decade ago when five women were murdered on a jirga’s decree in 2011 after a video of them clapping to a man dancing at a family event went viral. Subsequently, four brothers of the man in the video were also killed. The case gained international attention, leading to its presentation before the Supreme Court in 2013.
The then chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, took suo motu notice and sentenced those involved to life imprisonment.
