Pakistani teenage girl strangled, set on fire for helping friend elope

A Pakistani teenage girl was drugged, strangled and her body set on fire for allegedly helping her friend to elope, police said on Thursday while announcing the arrests of 13 local leaders who approved the gruesome act, in the latest incident of honour killing.

The incident took place last week in Makool village of Abbotabad district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Fifteen-year-old Ambreen was punished by a local group of elders who held her responsible for facilitating the elopement of the couple on April 23, which is considered a dishonour for the family of the girl who had eloped.

The local elders met on April 28 and decided to punish Ambreen and the man who transported the eloping couple in his van by burning the girl and the vehicle, said police official Shams Khan. "They killed the girl on April 29 by strangulating her and then put her body in the vehicle which was set of fire," he said.

Police have arrested 13 out of 15 men who had sanctioned the killing. They have been charged with murder, arson and terrorism. The incidents of violence against the women in the name of honour are rampant in Pakistan.

Women in Pakistan have fought for their rights for decades, in a country where honour killings and acid attacks remain commonplace. More than 500 men and women died in honour killings last year, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Many of these crimes, carried out by relatives who say their mostly female victims have brought shame on the family, are never prosecuted, observers say.