Lovers tied to tree, stoned to death

Police said that the couple, both in their early 40s, were killed on Sunday in the central Punjabi village of Donga Bonga when relatives of the woman threw a barrage of rocks at them.Speaking by telephone from Multan, local police chief Zafar Bohkhari described the incident as “a case of honour killing”, adding, that police had arrested “two brothers of the woman”.

He said that the accused had reportedly discovered the pair, who were relatives, “in a compromising position and killed them in a rage” — with the help of other relatives – by tying them to a tree and killing them with bricks.Bokhari went on to say that another relative of the victims had reported the killings to the police who opened a double murder case against the two brothers and two other relatives who allegedly took part in the killing.

Donga Bonga police officer Haji Mohammad, who identified the woman as Ellahi Hussain and the man as Hafeez Shah, said that the attackers had dragged the couple from a house with a rope tied around their necks and then tied them to the trees, where they proceeded to smash their heads with stones and bricks.

He added that police were conducting raids to arrest two others relatives suspected of involvement.One of the brothers of the woman, Maqbool, told police after being taken into custody: “We saw them sleeping together and we could not tolerate this immoral act and decided to punish them.”In 2005, President General Pervez Musharraf had a law enacted by parliament to impose the death penalty for those found guilty of committing honour killings.

Source: Daily Times

Date:2/1/2007