2 Pakistani sisters killed in latest case of honour killing in Pakistan

Lahore, Jun 5 (PTI) In the latest case of honour killing in Pakistan, two sisters were killed by their father and brother in the Punjab province of the country for contracting love marriage, police said on Wednesday.
     The incident took place in Vehari, some 350 km from Lahore on Tuesday.
     According to police the victims -- Nishat, and Afshan who were in their early 20s -- left their house last month and contracted court marriage with the men of their choice.
     A Panchayat meeting held at the request of the sisters' father ordered the families of the grooms to hand over the married girls to their parents.
     "As the grooms' families complied with the Panchayat's order, both girls were handed over to their parents. On Tuesday, the girls' father Saeed and brother Asim along with others shot the girls dead at their house after inflicting torture on them," police said.
     Police said that they arrested the father of the murdered girls.
     A case has been registered against the perpetrators under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code.
     According to the data provided by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, around 1,000 women are killed in the name of honour every year in the country.
     A young girl or a married woman is put to death for running away from home with her acquaintances, marrying without the family's consent or having an illicit affair with someone.
     But when the cases against the killer brothers, sons, parents, or other close relatives of these women are filed in the courts, usually their close relatives and the plaintiffs forgive them and thus they escape the punishment.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)