A couple was killed in Balochistan’s Mastung district in another so-called ‘honour’ killing, police reported on Wednesday. The victims, who had been married for seven years, were lured by the woman’s family under the guise of a visit and shot dead near Noshki Cross while traveling with their children.
According to Wali Khan Station House Officer Pir Muhammad Alizai, the couple was invited by the woman’s brothers to travel from Panjgur to Lakpass. The attackers, riding two motorcycles, intercepted them at around 7am and opened fire, killing both on the spot. The suspects fled the scene, and police say efforts are underway to arrest them.
An FIR was registered at the Wali Khan Levies station under multiple sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, including murder and assault. The complaint, filed by the deceased husband’s brother, names five suspects and cites enmity and a “marriage of convenience” as motives.
This killing follows a string of similar ‘honour’-based murders across Pakistan. Last week, a man in Quetta reportedly killed his daughter and nephew. Just days before, another couple was murdered in Degari, Quetta, on orders of a tribal jirga. Authorities had arrested 14 suspects in that case.
In 2024 alone, at least 346 people were killed in Pakistan in the name of ‘honour’, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. The killings, deeply rooted in societal norms around family dignity, remain a grim and persistent problem, especially in Sindh, Punjab, and Balochistan.