Pakistan: Girl killed in Kohistan following direction of local jirga

The victim was one of two girls who could be seen dancing with local boys in a video that went viral on social media platforms, Masood Khan, the deputy superintendent of police (DSP) in Kolai-Palas, some 150km northwest of Mansehra, told Dawn News.

The DSP told the newspaper that the victim’s body had been moved from the crime scene to a nearby health facility for autopsy.

A second girl, he said, was rescued by the pol­ice due to expected threats to her life, but a senior civil judge sent her home with her father after she ruled out any danger to her life.

The boys, who appeared in the videos, have gone into hiding.

The videos and photos, which were apparently edited, went viral on social media three to four days ago, DSP Khan said.

Police said the jirga had declared those who appeared in the images circulating on social media as ‘chor’ (thieves) and issued a decree for their killing.

An FIR has been registered, and the culprits who issued the assassination decree and those who executed will be brought to justice, the police official told Dawn News.

The FIR, a copy of which was seen by Dawn, has been lodged on the complaint of the Kolai-Palas police station SHO Noor Mohammad Khan, as the victim’s family did not approach police to register a case.

Sections 109 (abetment in crime), 302 (punishment of qatl-i-amd or premeditated murder) and 311 (punishment after the waiver of qisas) of the Pakistan Penal Code have been added in the FIR, the newspaper reported.