Teenage sisters Noor Basra and Noor Sheza were filmed playing and dancing outside their home. Picture: Screengrab/YouTube
TWO teenage sisters have been shot dead for daring to film
themselves dancing in the rain and "dishonouring" their family and men
in their conservative village.
Noon Basra and Noor Sheza, from Pakistan, were murdered after mobile footage of the girls emerged, outraging their town.
In
the footage the sisters, aged 15 and 16, are dressed in traditional
clothing and are pictured along with two other younger children in the
town of Chilas, in the northern region of Gilgit,
News24Online reported.
The girls dance and one of the sisters even smiles for the camera.
But
their seemingly innocent crime earned them a death sentence after the
footage caused outrage in the conservative town and they were shot dead,
alongside their mother, by five gunmen.
Police confirmed they arrested the girls' stepbrother, known only as
Khutore, over the murder and are hunting for four other men in what
they believe to be an honour killing.
"It seems that the two girls
have been murdered after they were accused of tarnishing their family's
name by making a video of themselves dancing in the rain," a police
officer told News24Online.
The girls' other brother raised the case against Khutore and the four other men to authorities.
Human
rights activist Atiya Jehan said the video became "a big issue" after
elders in the town "raised objections on the character of these girls".
It's not the first time Pakistan has made international headlines for crimes against women.
Gang-rape victim
Kainat Soomro was condemned to death after being assaulted by four men at the age of 13.
"Balck virgin", teenage rape victim Kainat Soomro is "destined to be killed. Picture: Hilke Schellmann
Elders in the rural village of Dadu in southern Pakistan
ordered that her own family kill her since her ordeal was considered a
token of disgrace.
A documentary was made about her plight and four years later she is still fighting for justice.
While
exact figures on honour killings in the country are hard to attain,
Amnesty International Australia spokeswoman Karen Trentini said the
figure went into the hundreds with many more cases going unreported.
She
said violence against women and girls remained prevalent across
Pakistan, adding that the criminal justice system continued to fail to
investigate and punish such abuses against women, including so-called
"honour" crimes.
"Every year hundreds of women are known to die as
a result of honour killings. Many more cases go unreported and almost
all go unpunished," she told news.com.au
Ms Trentini said reports
showed that police almost always took the man's side in honour killings
or domestic murders, and rarely prosecuted the killers.
In cases
when they were convicted the judiciary ensured they were given a light
sentence "reinforcing the view that men can kill", she said.
According to the human right's organisation the sisters' case is not an isolated incident.
In
its annual report on the state of human rights abuses worldwide, it
found women and girls campaigning for their rights faced discrimination
and violence at home and in public.
Pakistani schoolgirl Malala
Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban in October last year for
campaigning for girls' education. Picture: AFP
In May last year, local tribal elders reportedly ordered the
killing of four women for singing and clapping allegedly in the company
of two men, at a wedding in Kohistan district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province.
The Supreme Court ordered an investigation into the
incident the following month and concluded that the women were probably
alive.
But Amnesty said its investigation appeared to be significantly flawed.
In
July, women's human rights activist Fareeda Afridi was killed in a
drive-by shooting as she left her home in Peshawar for work in the
Khyber Tribal Agency. Local civil society groups said she had been
targeted for promoting the human rights of women.
Her killers have not yet been brought to justice.
And
in October last year, the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for
attempting to assassinate 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai over her work on
promoting education for women and girls.
