MANSEHRA: Police in Puttan area of Kohistan arrested three men on Friday for allegedly killing two girls of their family in the name of ‘honour’ and secretly burying their bodies in a graveyard.

According to sources, Haji Ahmad Khan allegedly gunned down his daughter and niece in the wee hours of Friday. His nephews Sher­zada and Noorur Rehman were with him.

The matter was reported to police by some local people after which the three were taken into custody.

During interrogation, they first claimed that the girls had fallen ill and died at night.

When police asked how was it possible that both the girls died together and why did they bury them secretly, Haji Ahmad changed his statement and said that gunshots had been mistakenly fired by one of his nephews which hit the two girls.

The sources said that after hearing the gunshots and noticing some suspicious activities in the house people in the neighbourhood reported the matter to police.

According to a neighbour, Haji Ahmad and his nephews suspected that one of the girls was having an affair with a man and the other of having helped her.

The SHO of Mansehra city police station told reporters that on information provided by the three men police had located the graves of the two girls.

He said he had moved an application requesting a district and sessions judge to allow exhumation of the bodies for post-mortem.

Police have registered a murder case against the three men.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2016