Pakistan ‘honor killing’ video sparks outrage, tribal leader arrested

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Surrounded by pickup trucks in dry and mountainous terrain, two people are forced out of their vehicle by a group of men and led away at gunpoint before being shot multiple times at close range.

The execution video has been shared widely online in recent days, leading to the arrest of 14 people over the “honor killing” of the pair — a man and woman who were accused of having an affair — and sparking uproar over the issue in Pakistan.

NBC News was unable to independently verify the video, but local police confirmed that it showed the killings in question. The killings in Balochistan province took place last month, police said, but the video went viral only in recent days.

”The police have identified a number of people in the video,” provincial police chief Mozzam Jah Anssri said Monday, describing the deaths as “honor killings.”

“Some of them have been arrested and efforts are underway” to find the others, he added.

He said among those arrested was a local tribal chief, Sardar Sher Baz Khan Satakzai, who is alleged to have ordered the killings. Police have identified the man who shot the woman in the video as her brother, though it is not clear whether he has been detained.

Balochistan’s chief minister, Sarfaraz Bugti, said the tribal council had accused the victims of having an illicit affair. Anssri, the police chief, said they had been invited on the pretext of a lunch, where they were told about the tribal council’s decision to execute them.

Both the man and the woman were married to other people and had several children from those marriages, Bugti told reporters Monday, contradicting earlier reports that they had recently married each other against their families’ wishes.

He said police had been conducting raids and that all of those involved “will be brought to justice.”

The video has caused an uproar in Pakistan, where honor killings, done in the name of restoring the dignity of families and the community, are still fairly prevalent, especially in rural areas. They are mostly directed toward women, who are generally slain by a relative under the patriarchal belief that they have brought disrepute upon their families.

Hundreds of women are killed annually by close relatives, including fathers, brothers and sons, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

In recent years, several high-profile “honor killings” have drawn international condemnation. Pakistan outlawed the practice in 2016 after social media star Qandeel Baloch was murdered by her brother for “bringing dishonor” to their family.

Police were ordered by a local court on Monday to exhume the bodies for autopsies. A forensic examination found that the woman had been shot seven times, while the man was shot nine times, Dr. Ayesha Faiz, a police surgeon at Sandeman Civil Hospital in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, said Tuesday.

Bugti, the chief minister of Balochistan, said the suspects had been charged with terrorism.

“They were both killed in a brutal manner, which is utterly unacceptable under any circumstances,” he said.

“This is something neither society permits, nor does the government allow,” he added.

Mushtaq Yusufzai reported from Peshawar, Pakistan, and Mithil Aggarwal reported from Hong Kong.