ALLEGED LIVE BURIAL OF HONOR KILLING VICTIMS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISLAMABAD 003105

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2018
TAGS: PGOV PK PREL PHUM
SUBJECT: ALLEGED LIVE BURIAL OF HONOR KILLING VICTIMS
SPARKS OUTRAGE

Classified By: Anne W. Patterson for reasons 1.4(b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: The September 17 intervention by the
Supreme Court in a reportedly gruesome honor killing has
raised the stakes about a case that has provoked widespread
outrage. Although the facts of the case are very much in
dispute, between two and five women were killed and buried
(reportedly buried alive) in Balochistan in August. The
Pakistan Human Rights Commission reported the story, which
was picked up by local media; the issue has since been
debated in the parliament where a Baloch senator defended the
incident as being part of tribal tradition. This in turn
sparked further outrage by human rights groups,
parliamentarians and editors. The Ministry of Interior has
rejected at least two allegedly false reports on the case
filed by the Balochistan police. Baloch authorities argue
that post-mortem exams of two of the victims' bodies
indicated they were beaten to death and then buried. There
are also allegations of a cover-up by complicit local
Pakistan People's Party officials. Human rights groups,
which estimate that 600 Pakistani women have been victims of
honor killings in the past year, hope the attention to this
case will discourage additional murders. End summary.

CONFLICTING FACTS


2. (SBU) On September 17, Supreme Court Chief Justice Dogar
took "suo moto" notice of a case in which up to five women
where killed and buried over alleged honor violations in
Balochistan in August. In Pakistan, the high courts can
intervene (suo moto) on an issue without a formal case having
been brought to the court. This action will raise the stakes
of an already controversial human rights case.


3. (C) Asma Jehangir, chairperson of the Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) told DCM September 18 that the
HRCP Karachi office had first reported the case to local
authorities. The initial report indicated that several women
had been shot and buried in Balochistan o/a July 13,
reportedly because they planned to defy their tribal elders
and marry men of their choice. Jehangir guessed that someone
in the HRCP Karachi office had exaggerated the story in
reporting it to the Asian Human Rights Commission by
suggesting the women had been buried alive. The "buried
alive" story was picked up and reported widely by local
media, which has speculated there were up to five victims and
published lurid accounts of the alleged killings.


4. (SBU) According to widely varied media reports, as the
young women's plans to defy tribal elders became public, a
group of gunmen abducted the women and drove them to a remote
location. Some reports allege the abductors drove vehicles
registered to the local Baloch government. Many in Pakistani
society and the media, including Human Rights Watch Pakistan,
allege the group of abductors included Abdul Umrani, a
brother of Pakistani Housing Minister Mir Sadiq Umrani
(Pakistan People's Party). Some reports cast him in the role
of instigator and ring-leader. He has denied any involvement
in the women's deaths. Baloch officials admit they were
notified of the murders soon after the occurred; they deny
the women were buried alive.


5. (SBU) The undisputed facts are the bodies of the women
were discovered in unmarked, shallow graves. The events took
place in a desert area outside of the remote village of Nau
Abadi, in the vicinity of Baba Kot, Balochistan. None of the
women was buried with the traditional, religious rites. A
post-mortem conducted by Baloch officials of two of the
bodies indicated the victims were beaten to death and then
buried. Two additional women, the mother and the aunt of one
of the deceased women, are still missing and presumed to have
died in the same incident.

OUTRAGE AND INVESTIGATIONS


6. (SBU) At the end of August, Pakistani female Senator
Yasmin Shah brought the matter to the attention of the
Senate, where the murder was characterized as being
"barbaric," and anathema to Islam and modern Pakistani
culture. However, Baloch Senator Israrullah Zehri defended
the killing as being part of centuries old tribal practice.
In response to this, female senator Sanaullah Baloch, a
nationalist leader from Balochistan, commented burying girls

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alive had never been a Baloch custom. Undeterred, Zehri went
on to add this was a matter to be discussed and settled
within the tribes, and asked fellow lawmakers to "stop
overreacting," and to stop "politicizing the issue."


7. (SBU) Zehri's remarks provoked a storm of protest from
women's and human rights groups, other parliamentarians, GOP
officials--including President Zardari--and editorialists who
all condemned the murders. According to the press, on August
30, Senator Shah told a group of parliamentarians that
Senator Zehri had threatened her with Baloch death squads
because of her role in exposing the honor killings. On
September 1, the Senate passed a resolution condemning the
killings, calling for the culprits to be caught and punished
and ordering the Senate Human Rights Committee to issue a
report on the incident.


8. (C) A variety of reports has been issued in response to
the calls for a GOP inquiry at the national level. Interior
Minister Malik reported that he had rejected at least two
reports from the Baloch Police and had ordered a national
investigation; however, the Balochistan province actually has
jurisdiction over the case. The High Court of Balochistan
has ordered the local police and the GOP Human Rights
Commission to submit their investigative reports by September

22. Law Minister Farouq Naek told Ambassador September 17
that he had just met with the Minister for Women's
Development and several NGOs concerned with the case; they
plan to introduce legislation to strengthen laws protecting
women from harrassment and abuse.


9. (C) Comment: Human rights groups report that over 600
women have died in honor killings in Pakistan over the past
year. Although honor killings are a capital offense, cases
are rarely prosecuted because of respect for what is
considered tribal custom. There are, however, increasingly
disparaging reports of these cases ("karo kari" in Sindhi) in
local media, and the human rights community hopes that the
negative publicity about this case will at least discourage
further murders.
PATTERSON