"It's A Man's World, And These Things Will Never Stop"

On July 14, three young Pakistani women en route to marriage to the young men of their choice were abducted, beaten, tortured, and buried alive by their male relatives. Two female relatives--the mother of one, the aunt of another--begged for the young women's lives. For their pains, they were shot and killed and tossed into the young women's grave.

Media exposure has caused the government of Pakistan to open an "investigation." The Pakistani senator who represents Balochistan province, where the murders occurred, believes such a probe not only unnecessary, but wrongheaded. In his view, the killings were justified.

"This action was carried out according to tribal traditions," says Israr Ullah Zehri. "These are centuries old-traditions and I will continue to defend them. Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid."

An elderly woman from the same village as the dead women declined to give her name to inquiring reporters. Her view: "It's a man's world, and these things will never stop."

The three young women, identified in this piece as Fatima, Fauzia, and Jannat Bibi, ages 16-18, had asked their male relatives and tribal elders for permission to marry young men from another tribe. Permission was refused.

On July 14, the three young women boarded a taxi in the village of Babakot. During the hour's drive to the village of Usta Mohammed, the women happily discussed their plans to meet their young men at a restaurant, and then proceed to a civil court to enter into matrimony.

The cab driver, a rat fink of both pathetic and monstrous proportions, dropped off his fares "and then drove straight back to Babakot to inform their families about the secret plans he had overheard in the back of his taxi."

Almost immediately after the taxi driver’s return, a posse of male relatives, including fathers, uncles and brothers, set out from Babakot for the village of Usta Mohammed to bring the girls home. The men arrived in land cruiser jeeps bearing Balochistan government license plates--one belonging to the district mayor[.]

The girls were kicked, punched and then pushed into the vehicles at gunpoint[.] Once back at home in Babakot, the girls were beaten again and interrogated by their fathers and uncles for almost one hour before their "verdict" was announced.

They would be killed--buried alive.

The girls were dragged into vehicles and taken to the end of a back road in Babakot accompanied by two female relatives[.] The men dug ditches and ordered the girls to be thrown in. When the female relatives saw the ditches, they tried to intervene and begged for the girls’ lives[.]

There was "pandemonium at the site," according to the findings of the Asian Human Rights Commission, and a tribal elder gave orders to shoot the two older women. They died immediately and were thrown into the wide ditch. The three girls, who were wounded in the gunfire but still alive, were then thrown in and covered with sand and mud.

It is necessary here to remember again what it was to be 16. To feel what it would be like: in one hour but moments away from marrying the boy of your dreams; in the next, rattling out your last breath, suffocating in mud and stones, extinguished by your father.

Pakistan outlawed "honor killings" in 2004, and the penalty for those who perpetrate them is death. But, as we know, law enacted in Islamabad does not mean much out in the provinces. Islamabad can condemn Osama bin Laden, but cannot catch him; Islamabad can outlaw honor killings, but cannot stop them.

The families of the murdered young women belong to the wealthy feudal Umrani tribe; the uncle of one of the dead is a minister in the provincial government and a deputy leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party. As this person puts it, in an understated way:

The delay in action against those responsible, who enjoys perks and privileges as feudal lords in the area, has called into question the credibility of erstwhile pro-women policies of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of slain premier Benazir Bhutto, who always advocated civil and political liberties for women.

Official sources in the country‘s capital Islamabad say that the PPP-led government had been reluctant to take action against the perpetrators as it feared it might lose the votes of a number of legislators sympathetic to Sadiq Umrani, who is also deputy parliamentary leader of the party in Baluchistan Assembly, in the just-held September 6 presidential elections.

The local reporter who publicized the story, Saarang Mastoi, says he has been threatened by "powerful people" in the Umrani tribe. Mastoi said everyone in the village of 7000 knew of the killings; shortly after the women were buried alive, local shepherds guided Mastoi to the burial site. Now, he says, "everyone is too afraid to talk."

The "investigation" will probably not get much of anywhere. According to the Asian Human Rights Commission, "the Balochistan police have removed three of the five bodies and started destroying any evidence that might prove useful to an eventual investigation."

According to this source, the individual assigned to "investigate" the killings has been prevented from visiting the scene of the crime, and is instead "made to sit in Islamabad, with a limited mandate to only monitor investigations."

Observed an editorial in the Pakistan Daily News International:

"Even as the Senate passed a unanimous resolution condemning the incident and demanding punishment for its perpetrators, an attempt at a cover-up is on. The government presented an extremely dubious report before the Senate, stating three women and not five had been killed, that the incident involved a property dispute and was not a case of 'honor' killing and that the women had been killed before being buried."

Meanwhile, Pakistan flies US-supplied F-16s; plans are afoot to kick an additional $226.5 million in US "counter-terrorism" funds to the Pakistanis in order to trick out their jets so they can better give the boot to "Islamic extremists." The total amount of military aid provided by the US to Pakistan cannot be known; too much if it is shrouded in classified appropriations. What is known is that Congress is currently considering providing to Pakistan $7.5 billion in non-military aid over the next five years. Pakistan itself would prefer $20 billion.