Pakistan stoning victim’s husband condemns police
Farzana Parveen, who was three months pregnant, was pelted with bricks and bludgeoned by relatives furious because she married against their wishes.
“They watched Farzana being killed and did nothing,” her husband, Muhammad Iqbal, told the BBC.
There are hundreds of so-called “honour killings” in Pakistan each year.
UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said she was “deeply shocked” and urged Pakistan’s government to take “urgent and strong measures”.
“I do not even wish to use the phrase ‘honour killing’: there is not the faintest vestige of honour in killing a woman in this way.”
Mr Iqbal described the police as “shameful” and “inhuman” for their failure to stop the attack.
Police collect evidence near the body of Farzana Iqbal, who was killed by family members, at the site near the Lahore High Court building in Lahore May 27
Police questioned witnesses as Ms Parveen’s bloodied body lay on the pavement
“We were shouting for help, but nobody listened. One of my relatives took off his clothes to capture police attention but they didn’t intervene.
Arranged marriages are the norm in Pakistan and to marry against the wishes of the family is unthinkable in many deeply conservative communities.
Shahzeb Jillani, BBC News, Karachi
This murder has appalled Pakistan’s tiny but vocal civil society. Social media activists took to Twitter and Facebook to express their shock and horror. English language newspapers have published strongly-worded editorials to denounce the brutal crime.
But all that is in sharp contrast to the muted reaction in the mainstream Urdu language media which, instead, chose to focus on political and security-related stories.
This despite the fact that that killing of a woman in the name of honour remains an appalling reality in villages and towns across Pakistan.
As Dawn newspaper points out in its editorial: “The most shocking aspect of this killing, however, is that all the people witnessing the crime, even the law enforcers, were silent spectators as a woman was bludgeoned to her death.”
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Ms Parveen’s father later surrendered to police but other relatives who took part in the attack are still free.
Mr Iqbal said they were threatening him and his family.
“Yesterday [on Tuesday] they said they would snatch the dead body,” he said. “We came here with a police escort.”
“We arrested a few of them and others are currently being investigated,” local police chief Mujahid Hussain said.
Dragged to floor
Ms Parveen comes from a small town outside the city of Lahore. According to reports, her family were furious because she decided to marry Mr Iqbal instead of a man they had chosen.
Her relatives then filed a case for abduction against Mr Iqbal at the High Court.
The husband of a pregnant woman, who was stoned to death by her family outside a court building in the Pakistani city of Lahore, has said police were watching the incident but did not intervene. Farzana Parveen, who was 25, was killed reportedly for marrying a man against her family’s wishes. Her husband, Muhammad Iqbal told the BBC that police were “silently watching, we were shouting for help, nobody listened.”