Daily Times

ABBOTTABAD- Police have traced the chilling incident of a minor girl, who was burnt alive in Makool village in Galyat six days earlier to a jirga.

Abbottabad police said the brutal murder was ordered by a 15-member jirga called by the Makool village councillor, Pervez. According to police, Pervez ordered to kill 16-year-old Amber and set alight as a‘punishment’ for helping her friend to elope.

13 members of the jirga have been arrested including the victim’s mother as well as the alleged mastermind of the incident.Earlier, it was being said that the girl might be mentally sick and tried to commit suicide. However, when a local resident named Abdullah approached the journalists, the real issue came to light. According to Abdullah, “She was apparently kidnapped, raped and burnt alive after tying her to the back seat with a wire.”

Upon further investigation, it was revealed that on April 28, after the six-hour long jirga ended, Amber was taken from her home to an abandoned place where she was drugged and then killed. She was then placed in the backseat of a parked van which was doused with petrol and set on fire.

The charred body of the teenage girl was found on Friday in a burnt down Suzuki van in Donga Gali. The remains of drugs from abandoned house and the can of petrol used to start the fire were also recovered. Police moved the body to Ayub Medical Complex for an autopsy.

The deceased was identified as daughter of Riasat, a labourer who works in Balochistan’s Gadani area. According to District Police Officer KhurramRasheed, a couple left Makol for Abbotabad on April 23, with the help of Amber and a driver named Naseer. When the couple could not be found, a jirga was called at Naseer’s house.

DPO Rasheed also said, the case will be tried by Anti-Terrorism Court and exemplary punishment will be recommended by the police.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA ShaukatYousafzai condemned the incident and told media that strict action will be taken against the jirga which ordered the brutal ruling. “This is not a part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’sculture,” he said.

“This is the first time an incident of this type has taken place.” He hailed the role of the local police for solving a case “that shook the entire Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” and lauded them for taking the investigation forward in a professional manner.