Two couple were shot dead in the name of “Honor” in District Dir during the second weak of Jun 2006. well informed sources said that dead bodies of Uzma D/O Hamidullah aged 16 years and her husband Shabir S/O Yaqoob Khan aged 25 were brought from Gujranwala (Punjab) to Munjai Dir Lower an June 07, 2006, who were killed there by hanging them with ropes.

Uzma was the only sister of five brothers Navid, Majid, Shahid and two small and she had engaged with Najibullah S/O Matiullah R/O Munjai Dir Lower in her childhood. One of her relative told me that after the engagement, when she was an adolescent, was happy to marry Najibullah and had sent some gifts to him. But later on she fell in love with another boy Shabir S/O Yaqoob Khan who was constructing a house next to that of Uzma. After a few months Uzma and Shabir married of their own choice and fled to Karachi, then Gujranwala (Punjab). The brothers of Uzma went on struggling to search out the couple. A relative told that Navid had accepted the task to find his sister and finally he was succeeded after 18 months. Along his brothers, he hired professional killers, who killed Uzma and Shabir in Gujranwala.

The couple has left behind a boy of six months who was taken under care by the father of Shabir and was named “Mazhar”. Sources told that hearing the cries of the baby, the neighbors of Shabir in Gujranwala entered the house and found the couple dead. They informed the local police and after two days investigation their bodies were brought from to Munjai village for burial, but the relatives of the girl refused to perform last rites on the bodies. However the relatives of Shabir insisted and the bodies were buried after funeral prayers.

After three days of this incident, another woman and a man were killed over the suspicion of having illicit relations in Toormang Dir Lower. Police sources told that Awal Zeib R/O Toormang was shot dead by Mukhtaj S/O Main Gul blaming that he had illicit relation with his sister in low. After killing Awal Zaib near his own house, Mukhtaj went to his home and opened fire on his sister-in-law and killed her. The husband of the deceased woman is said to be working in a Gulf state Dubai.

Here it is to be noted that in April 2006, a Jirga in Karo Dara Dir Upper resolved unanimously that “Honor Killing” will be encouraged to end illicit relation of men and woman with each other. All the notables and elders of the area participated in this Jirga. After the decision a young man who had returned home recently from Saudi Arabia went home and shot dead his wife and his father charging that they had illicit relations with each other.

Similarly a school teacher in Maidan Dir was shot dead by a man, who killed his second wife too and blamed that his wife had illicit relations with the school teacher. Honor killings events are on the rise in Dir but no one takes care or notice of it. It is of great importance that local NGOs and other human rights organizations are claiming that they have done a lot of in Dir but this issue was never sensed. ABKT, a woman organization is the only one that has started first to collect data of these incidents and find out the root causes and then take concrete steps to end up this menace.

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Shad BegumExecutive Director
ABKT Dir Lower