Daily Times

ABBOTTABAD: The Abbottabad police arrested 14 people on Thursday, for allegedly ordering the brutal murder of a 16-year old by setting her on fire. The suspects also include the deceased’s mother. Ambreen was killed in cold blood as her punishment for helping her friend, Saima, elope. Saima had defied her family wishes by running away with a man of her choice.

According to District Police Officer Khurram Rasheed, a 15 member jirga was called by the Makool village councillor Muhammad Pervez, on April 29, to resolve the dispute. He also made the jirga issue orders of Ambreen’s murder on the allegation of her facilitating Saima’s escape. The suspects have already confessed to their crimes of drugging Ambreen before strangling her to death, and then setting her ablaze in a Suzuki van . The local security forces recovered her charred body inside a burnt van in Donga Gali on Friday. The police also found some drugs in the vicinity of the site of the murder. The autopsy later identified the dead body as the daughter of Riasat, a labourer employed in Gadani. Rasheed also announced his resolve to take all 14 suspects to the local anti-terrorism court on Thursday, trying them on the charges of gruesome murder and terrorism. These suspects also include the van owner, who supported the jirga’s decision, and set on fire his own vehicle because Saima had sought refuge in it while running away.