MANSEHRA: Police on Monday arrested a man, who allegedly killed his niece on the order of a jirga after her video surfaced on social media last week, in Kolai-Palas region of Kohistan.

“This is a great achievement as the main culprit in the murder of a young girl has been arrested and presented before a local court,” Mukhtar Khan Tanoli, the district police officer of Kolai-Palas, told Dawn.

He said that a police team arrested Mohammad Nawaz in the mountainous Barsharyal village and produced him before a local magistrate for getting his custody.

“The magistrate handed the uncle of slain girl to police on four-day remand as the father of the girl has already been arrested and is in custody of police for six days,” said Mr Tanoli.

DPO says more arrests are expected soon in the case

He said that police and cybercrime wing of FIA were pursuing the case to arrest those, who uploaded photos-in-sequel in that video surfaced on Aman Khan alias Mohammad Didar’s fake Facebook account.

“We have been expecting more arrests shortly in this gruesome murder as the video is made of photos of two girls and same number of boys to put it on social media in pairs,” said Mr Tanoli.

He said one of the two girls, seen in pairs with boys, was rescued by police and presented before magistrate, who sent her with her family after she ruled out a threat to her life.

The FIR of the incident was lodged by Palas police station SHO Noor Mohammad Khan under sections 302/311 and 109 of PPC against the father and uncle of the slain girl.

Meanwhile, National Commission on the Status of Women, headed by Nilofar Bukhtar, has taken serious notice of the killing of the girl by jirga’s decree.

In an official communiqué addressed and dispatched to Inspector General of Police Akhtar Hayat Gandapur, the commission says that killing of a girl by the decree of a jirga merely after her video with a boy surfaced on social video is a horrific and painful incident.

“This commission, which is established under NCSW Act, 2012, is mandated to work for the protection and rights of women in the country.

The commission is confident that perpetrators and abated in any way in this case might be brought to justice through fair and exhaustive investigation,“ it says.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2023