Horror Stalks Women in Baluchistan

Legislators indifferent to sorry end of women buried alive Wednesday, August 27, 2008 By Rauf Klasra ISLAMABAD: As the government remained indifferent towards the sorry end of the five women who were buried alive in a desert of Balochistan last month, it has been revealed that the influential man who had killed the women is a "serial killer" and loves to kill women. The alleged serial killer had reportedly killed three persons, including one girl, before killing the five women. But he has never been captured or punished for his acts against humanity. Even parliamentarians who had raised hue and cry over the issue of Dr Aafia Siddiqui and passed a joint resolution in this regard remained silent on the sorry fate of the five women. The women were killed in a remote village Baba Kot, some 80 kilometres from Usta Mohammad, Jafferabad. It is believed that a PPP minister used his influence and position to hush up the matter. Information Minister Sherry Rehman only issued a one-line statement that the killers would be arrested, which never happened. The five women include Fatima, Jannat Bibi, Fauzia and two others girls, aged between 16 to 18 years. They were living at the house of one Chandio at Baba Kot village and were set to leave for a civil court at Usta Mohammad, so that three of them could marry the men of their choice. But news of their plan leaked out and Abdul Sattar Umrani, the brother of the PPP minister, came with more than six persons and abducted them at gun point. They were taken in a Land Cruiser jeep, bearing a registration number plate of the Balochistan government, to Nau Abadi, in the vicinity of Baba Kot. Abdul Sattar Umrani and his companions took the three girls out of the jeep and thrashed them before allegedly spraying them with bullets. The girls were seriously injured but still alive when they were buried. The two older women — one was an aunt of Fauzia while the other was the mother of one of the girls — were later buried along with the three girls when they resisted. After completing the burial, they fired several shots in the air. When The News contacted Sadiq Umrani, a provincial minister, he confirmed the incident, saying only three women were killed by unknown persons. He denied his or brother's involvement. He went on to say that the police would not disclose any information on the case as it would implicate them. There are reports that the alleged perpetrator, Abdul Sattar Umrani, was also involved in murder of three other persons, including one young woman, in January 2006. A school teacher, Mohammad Aslam, was going with his would-be wife in a taxi to a civil court to marry. They were intercepted at Manjo Shori, Tumboo, Naseerabad. The accused reportedly killed the two along with the taxi driver, Jabal Aidee. The police did not institute a murder case until the intervention of Iftikhar Chaudhry, the deposed chief justice, and also that of the deputy speaker of the Senate. But only one person was arrested and the accused Abdul Sattar Umrani remained at large. *************************** From The International Herald TribunePakistani lawmaker defends honor killings Associated Press August 30, 2008 ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: A Pakistani lawmaker defended a decision by southwestern tribesmen to bury five women alive because they wanted to choose their own husbands, telling stunned members of Parliament this week to spare him their outrage. "These are centuries-old traditions and I will continue to defend them," Israr Ullah Zehri, who represents Baluchistan province, said Saturday. "Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid."

The women, three of whom were teenagers, were first shot and then thrown into a ditch. They were still breathing as their bodies were covered with rocks and mud, according media reports and human rights activists, who said their only "crime" was that they wished to marry men of their own choosing. Zehri told a packed and flabbergasted Parliament on Friday that Baluch tribal traditions helped stop obscenity and then asked fellow lawmakers not to make a big fuss about it. Many stood up in protest, saying the executions were "barbaric" and demanding that discussions continue Monday. But a handful said it was an internal matter of the deeply conservative province. "I was shocked," said lawmaker Nilofar Bakhtiar, who pushed for legislation calling for perpetrators of so-called honor killings to be punished when she served as minister of women's affairs under the last government. "I feel that we've gone back to the starting point again," she said. "It's really sad for me." The incident allegedly occurred one month ago in Baba Kot, a remote village in Jafferabad district, after the women decided to defy tribal elders and arrange marriages in a civil court, according to the Asian Human Rights Commission. They were said to have been abducted at gunpoint by six men, forced into a vehicle and taken to a remote field, where they were beaten, shot and then buried alive, it said, accusing local authorities of trying to hush up the killings. One of perpetrators was allegedly related to a top provincial official, it said. Accounts about the killings have varied, largely because police in the tribal region have been uncooperative. Activists and lawmakers said a more thorough investigation needed to be carried out. The Asian Human Rights Commission, however, said the two older women may have been related to some of the teenage girls and were apparently murdered because they were sympathetic to their wishes. ___ Associated Press reporter Munir Ahmad contributed to this report.