Lovestruck Pakistani teens electrocuted by families for trying to elope

Much like the Bollywood cinema of the eighties and nineties two Pakistani teenage lovers who tried to elope were murdered with electric shocks by their own family members in what can only be described as brutal tribal “honour killing”, police said.

The young couple, aged 15 and 17 respectively were from the port city of Karachi had apparently brought dishonour on the community according to Pashtun council of elders or jigra.

According to a story published in The Sun, police officer Aman Marwat said, “The innocent souls were tied to a charpai (rope bed) and given electric shocks.”

The police officer arrested the two fathers and two uncles and is investigating 30 members of the jigra who have since then all gone into hiding.

According to Marwat the 15-year-old girl had allegedly run away with her 17-year-old boyfriend last month.

The girl was allegedly killed first and buried followed by the murder of the boy the next day.

According to the story in The Sun, over 500 people die each year in Pakistan in the name of honour killing by members of their own family for bringing ‘shame’ on their community.

According to a report published in the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, a non-governmental organisation that works in the area, the two families had come to an agreement for the pair to get married, together with a financial settlement to be paid to the girl’s family.

However, according to the journalist who had first reported the case, while the girl’s side agreed the tribal jigra did not, warning that it could lead to dire consequences for their family back home.