Kohistan girls alive: Iftikhar

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain on Sunday said the girls at the centre of the Kohistan video scandal, claimed to have been killed in the name of honour, were alive and the provincial government had found no evidence of their murder.

Addressing a press conference, Iftikhar requested the Supreme Court to dispose of the suo motu notice it had taken over the issue and take action against those who had made allegations regarding the girls’ murder.

He said the parents and sister of one of the girls had recorded statements in front of a fact-finding commission.

The minister said the commission had also recorded statements of eight other locals and found no evidence that the girls had been murdered, adding that the video scandal was an attempt to disgrace the jirga system and Pakhtun traditions.

Iftikhar said tribal elders, parents of the girls and residents of the area had assured the provincial government that protection of the girls would be ensured.

He further said that neither the local jirga nor any religious scholar in Kohistan had issued a decree to kill the girls.

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