Couple Exhumed After Honour Killing in Quetta

In the Degari vicinity near Quetta, the remains of a man and woman, reportedly victims of an honour killing, were exhumed. Police surgeons from Sandeman Hospital performed post-mortem examinations.

Dr. Ayesha, the police surgeon, stated that the woman suffered seven gunshot wounds, while the man sustained nine. The autopsies took place at the Degari coal mine cemetery.

The couple was allegedly murdered last month on the orders of a local tribal jirga for violating honour codes in Dagari, located on the outskirts of the provincial capital.

The incident garnered widespread attention after a video circulated on social media, depicting men forcibly removing the couple from a vehicle and leading them to a desert location where they were fatally shot at point-blank range.

A formal complaint was lodged, and a case was registered at Quetta’s Hanna-Urak Police Station.

The FIR indicates charges filed under Sections 302 (murder), 149 (unlawful assembly), 148 (rioting with a deadly weapon), and 147 (rioting) of the Pakistan Penal Code, along with the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997.

Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti verified that 11 individuals have been taken into custody thus far, with ongoing operations to detain additional suspects.

He affirmed that all those implicated will be held accountable, clarifying that the man and woman were not married and each had several children.

Bugti reassured the public that the government stands in solidarity with the victims, striving to ensure justice through the legal system.

“We responded even before the video gained traction,” he stated, noting the suspension of the relevant DSP.

A tribal leader, Sherbaz Khan, apprehended in connection with the murders, has been remanded to the Crime Investigation Wing for two days.

The exhumation of the woman’s grave was conducted under the directive of a judicial magistrate.

The Chief Justice of the Balochistan High Court, Justice Rozi Khan Barrech, has initiated suo motu proceedings regarding this incident, summoning the Additional Chief Secretary for Home and the Inspector General of Police.

Various political entities, including the PPP, PML-N, PTI, and MQM, have denounced the killings and demanded that the perpetrators face severe consequences.