Pakistan will investigate police officers who were at the scene where a pakistani
woman was stoned to death by her family
for marrying against their wishes, a
court official said on Friday.
Pakistani Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, speaking
live on state TV Friday, said he's asked the police inspector general to
provide a full report on the so-called honor killing of Farzana Parveen, 25,
who apparently died because she married a man against her family's wishes.
"I have also ordered that a case be filed against the
police officers present at the crime scene," Jillani said, because it
appears the "cops helped the criminals by watching the crime as silent
spectator."
Authorities said they arrested two of the woman's cousins,
an uncle and a driver. Her father was arrested earlier.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday called the killing
"totally unacceptable" and said it's a "great shame" for
such a crime to happen in the presence of police.
About 20 people, including members of Parveen's immediate
family, attacked her with bricks Tuesday outside a court building in Lahore,
police said.
Aamir Jalil Siddique, vice president of the Lahore High
Court Bar Association, told CNN, "We believe that this was an oversight on
the part of the police -- they were stationed there and did not do anything. We
have security, Punjab police officers, at the high court 24 hours a day. The advocate
general's office, which is next door to the gate, has additional security.
Iqbal, a neighbor of Parveen's family, said he and Parveen
were supposed to marry with the family's approval last year. In December,
Parveen's mother died, and her father and brothers decided Parveen, who came
from a village in Punjab, should instead marry a cousin, police said.
Parveen and Iqbal eloped and were married January 7 in a
court ceremony. But Iqbal told GEO TV that Parveen's family was infuriated and
filed a kidnapping case against him and other members of his family. They also
demanded 100,000 rupees (about $1,000), he said.
The couple went into hiding and filed statements in court to
prove the kidnapping allegations false, Iqbal said. On Tuesday morning they
were scheduled to appear before a judge when Parveen's family allegedly
attacked outside the court building.
"We went to the court to seek justice to tell them what
had happened. We were sitting there when all of a sudden they appeared,"
he told GEO TV. "Someone fired shots in the air. My wife and I were
sitting and then bricks were thrown, then a lady came and took Farzana away.
..."
Police stood and watched and didn't come to their aid, Iqbal
said. He said the crowd killed his wife and her unborn child
The chief minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, gave a 24-hour
ultimatum to the inspector general to arrest the suspects. He asked that a
murder trial be held in an anti-terrorism court.
Britsh Foreign Secretary William Hague said, "There is
absolutely no honor in honor killings, and I urge the government of Pakistan to
do all in its power to eradicate this barbaric practice."
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