Anwar Din, 27, who allegedly
developed relations with 19-year-old Intizar Bibi
had been stoned to death on
the orders of a tribal court. The couple had been caught red handedly having a
secret meeting. The relation between the two had started on a previous posting of
the soldier to the semi-autonomous tribal areas, according to reports. He was
reassigned to a different posting but had returned in recent days to see the
woman, 19-year-old Intizar Bibi.
According to Reuters, residents caught
the couple and brought them before tribal elders. At a meeting on Monday, the
elders decided that the soldier be executed according to Islamic law. Officials
said that the soldier was taken to a graveyard where the couple had been found,
tied to the vehicle and stoned. He was also shot.
“The girl left her home on Monday
and met Anwar Din, when villagers saw them,” said Munir Hussain, head of the
local council, or jirga, that sentenced the soldier to death. “We took the girl
into custody and took the boy to the local graveyard where he was stoned to
death and buried.”
While not unheard of, incidents of
stoning are not common in Pakistan. When they do take place, it is usually
women who are the victims. The fate of the woman accused in this incident
remains unclear. Some reports suggested she too had been killed, while others
said she was being held in custody.
The incident happened in the
Parachinar area of the Kurram tribal agency, one of several areas along the
border with Afghanistan that have never been under the full control of the
central authorities and where tribal elders hold huge influence.
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