MIANWALI, Nov 8: Three girls who had run away from home were killed by their uncles on their return, their parents told police on Friday.

The parents had recovered the girls from a hotel in Faisalabad a few days ago. The well-educated cousins belonged to Mohallah Yarookhel and were between 18 and 22 years of age.

The news spread in the city in no time, but the police were reluctant to register a case against the influential accused. Finally, on a written complaint on Thursday night, DPO Rao Sardar Ali raided the houses of the missing girls. On Friday, he called the parents to his office where they confessed that the girls had indeed been killed by two of their uncles.

Earlier, the Core Group of Social Welfare Department at a meeting unanimously condemned the honour-killings and demanded police action in this regard.

According to the complaint, the girls had been tortured for seven days when they were taken to the bank of Indus and butchered. Their bodies were allegedly thrown into the river.

A social worker claimed at the core group meeting that he had met the girls’ parents before the murders, but failed to have them change their mind and spare the young lives.