LAHORE, Nov 14: Punjab law minister Rana Ejaz Ahmad Khan has said that the Punjab government will act as complainant in the murder case of three Mianwali girls and take the culprits to task.

Declaring that honour-killing was intentional murder and that the government would introduce adequate legislation to prevent the practice, Mr Ejaz directed the Mianwali police to submit chargesheet of the case in the court after completing investigations in 15 days.

He also directed the police to recover the bodies, arrange their burial and immediately arrest the two absconding culprits.

The minister issued these instructions when the Mianwali City Police Station’s SHO submitted record of the case at his office in the Civil Secretariat.

He had summoned the police officer, after the Punjab governor took notice of newspaper reports about the murders and referred the case to the Punjab Human Rights Commission for a probe.

The police informed the minister that a student, Sadaf Fatima, had written a letter to the Mianwali SSP, informing him of the murder of her class-fellow Saadia and friends Rabia and Kausar.

The police raided the house of Saadia’s father, Mazhar Khan, and arrested him as well as the fathers of the other two girls, Amanullah and Abdul Maalik, all of whom claimed that the girls had been missing since Sept 27, police said.

Police said Rabia had been divorced after a few months of her marriage to a cousin. Her father had forcibly married her to his nephew.

They said Mazhar and Liaqat Ali had located the missing girls, who were taken to their house in Mianwali and subjected to questioning. That was when Saadia demanded divorce and remarriage of her own liking.

Police said the three girls were handed over to Ghulam Mohammad and Liaqat Ali at 10pm on Oct 11. According to the arrested fathers, the girls were murdered and their bodies thrown into a canal, police alleged.

Police said Mazhar Ali, Amanullah and Abdul Maalik had been remanded in their custody on Nov 4 while raids were being conducted to arrest the two absconders.

Punjab Human Rights Commission members advocates Mian Jamil Akhtar and Saadia Khalid were also present on the occasion.