Pakistani teenage girl burnt alive for helping friend elope

A teenage girl was reportedly kidnapped, drugged and set on fire in an alleged 'honour killing' by a tribal council in a Pakistani village after helping a friend elope. Identified as Ambreen, the police said she was set alight in the van that was used to help her school friend flee the village to marry of her own free will. Other reports also indicate that the teen was strangled by members of the tribal council known as - jirga before she was burnt. 

The traditional council ordered the girl be put to death as punishment for her involvement in helping a couple leave the village to marry. According to a Police Chief, “They took her to an abandoned place outside the village and made her unconscious by injecting her with some drugs. Then they seated the girl in a van in which the couple had escaped. They tied her hands to the seats and then poured petrol on her and the vehicle. ” Then she was heartlessly set her on fire.

The punishment was devised to be so severe to serve as a warning to other girls in their village and remain a deterrent to such ideas

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At least 13 elders in the village near the north western city Abbottabad have been arrested over the death - along with the girl’s mother, who allegedly agreed to the sentence. They have been also arraigned in a local anti-terrorism court on charges of murder and terrorism.

Source: independent.co.uk