DERA ISMAIL KHAN, March 13: A soldier was publicly stoned to death on the order of a tribal court in the Kurram region for    having an affair with a local woman, government officials and tribesmen said on Wednesday.

Punjab native Anwar Din, 27, was posted last year to the Parachinar area of Kurram agency where he met Intizar Bibi, 19, while manning a checkpost near her home.

The two embarked on a romantic relationship, tribal sources said, and he tried to elope with her when he was later posted to the disputed Kashmir region. It was not immediately clear what evidence there was, if any, of a romance.

“The girl left her home on Monday and met Anwar Din when villagers saw them,” said Munir Hussain, the head of the local jirga that sentenced Din to death. “We took the girl into custody and took the boy to the local graveyard where he was stoned to death and buried.”

Din was killed on Monday, he added. A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the jirga had ruled the woman must be shot to death. It was not immediately clear if this had already taken place.

The army was not immediately available for comment.

Kurram Agency is racked by sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia tribes. Bibi was Shia and Din Sunni, Hussain added.

He said the jirga had also requested that another soldier, Saifullah, be handed over for helping the couple meet and coordinate the planned elopement.

“The army is here for our security but if they engage in such activities we will not let them stay here,” Hussain said.

“This is an insult to tribal customs. We will revolt against this.”—Reuters