2012 Kohistan video case

Last updated
Kohistan video case
Kohistani girls.jpg
Screencap of the mobile video showing the girls involved: Bazeegha, Sereen Jan, Begum Jan and Amina
DateMay 2012
Venue Peach Bela, Palas Valley [1]
Location Kohistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Type Honour killing
First reporterAfzal Kohistani
Deaths3 (lowest confirmed estimate)
ConvictionsMohammad Umar Khan, Saeer and Sabir [2]
Sentence Life imprisonment (25 years)

The Kohistan video case is an honour killing case that took place in May 2012 in Palas Valley, Kohistan, Pakistan. It involved the honour killing of up to five girls, of whom a video had emerged on the internet. The video featured a boy dancing while four girls clapped and sang along.

Contents

It is claimed that, when the footage became public, a tribal jirga was held shortly afterwards where it was decided that the participants as well as the boy who filmed the video should be killed.

Afzal Kohistani, the elder brother of the two boys involved in the video, went against local tribal tradition and brought the case to national attention; first asking for the participants' protection and subsequently claiming that the girls in the video had already been murdered. [3] Kohistani campaigned for over seven years to keep the case in the public eye until he was murdered in March 2019.

In September 2019, three men were convicted of murdering three of the girls from the video and were sentenced to life imprisonment. The status of the fourth and fifth girl remain unconfirmed. [4]

Events

The video

Four girls − Bazeegha, Sereen Jan, Begum Jan and Amina − are seen clapping and singing; a fifth girl, Shaheen, is also present but does not appear in the video. In a separate shot, a man is seen dancing, while a second man records both him and the girls. [4] The video was reportedly filmed at a wedding celebration in the remote and strictly conservative Kohistan region, where cultural traditions are enforced by tribal jirgas in the absence of a capable law enforcement system. In May 2012, the video was leaked online and as the girls and men were from different tribes, a jirga was convened by local tribesmen where it was decided that the participants should be killed, as intertribal mingling is widely considered to be forbidden. [3]

The incident reached national media in June 2012 when Afzal Kohistani, the elder brother of the boys connected to the video, alleged that the girls had been killed on the orders of the Azadkhel tribe jirga. Officials from the area denied that this had taken place and claimed that the girls were alive. The case was disposed of after rights activists and government officials made two trips to the remote village to meet the girls, as ordered by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and initially confirmed that at least four of the girls were alive. [5] [6] [7] Dr Farzana Bari, a woman's rights activist who made both trips to meet the girls, initially agreed with the conclusions reached [5] but then lodged her dissent. [7]

In response to the closure of the case, Afzal Kohistani asserted that imposters had been presented to the investigation team and that the real girls were dead. [5] He filed an application to reopen the case which resulted in three of his brothers being shot dead. [8]

On 8 February 2014, a former member of the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from Kohistan, publicly claimed that the four girls seen in the video had been murdered and this prompted Afzal Kohistani to file another petition for the girls to be produced in court. After this was rejected, he took it to the Supreme Court where, in November 2016, another commission was ordered. [7] The defence lawyer argued that the girls couldn't be brought before the commission because of local tribal restrictions making it a matter of honour and shame. That argument was rejected by Justice Ejaz Afzal and sessions judge, Shoaib Khan, and other officials, were dispatched to meet the girls. Four girls duly appeared before them and inconsistences were noted around the age of the girls produced and those who appeared in the video five years prior. [7]

In relation to Amina, the report submitted by the commission to the Supreme court stated:

By appearance, she was about 14/15 years old. Reportedly, the video was shot back in the year 2010 and [it] surfaced [on the internet] in 2012. If we subtract the six years from [Amina’s] age, her age at the time of video shooting would be between 8/9 years whereas girls visible in the [video]… look to be aged between 20/22 years back in the year 2010.

Similar discrepancies were found in each case. [7]

Farzana Bari made a fresh statement to the court reiterating her earlier concerns that the girls seen in the video were not those who had been presented before the commission. She stated:

"Photos of the girls taken during the commission session were given to a Reuters' journalist, Katharine Houreld, who got the matching done through a renowned independent British agency 'Digital Barriers'. It was found in the said report that the photos of the girls, who were made to appear before the commission, did not match the images of the girls appearing in the said video." [9]

In August 2018, on the order of the Supreme Court, the Kohistan police registered a first information report for the alleged honour killing of the five girls connected to the video. In December 2018, the investigation found that two out of five victims were reportedly alive [10] and that three of the girls - Siran Jan, Begum Jan and Bazeegha - had, indeed, been killed. [7]

Afzal Kohistani

Afzal Kohistani (murdered 6 March 2019), the eldest brother of the men in the video Afzal Kohistani.jpg
Afzal Kohistani (murdered 6 March 2019), the eldest brother of the men in the video

Afzal Kohistani was a Salehkhel tribesman from the Kolai-Palas District, he was one of eight children. The family lived comfortably and were well respected within the village community of Gadaar. At various times, Afzal ran a tailoring shop, clerked for a lawyer and traded bee honey, he studied law in his free time.

In 2010, he was living in Mansehra with his wife and two of his younger brothers, Bin Yasir and Gul Nazar. Around this time Yasir and Nazar returned to the family village of Gadaar, which is where the video was later filmed. When the video went viral Yasir and Nazar were arrested, two of their brothers and other families from the Salehkhel tribe left Gaddar and moved to Allai, where they'd been offered protection from the Azadkhel tribe, to whom the girls in the video belonged.

As opposed to following the tribal tradition, Afzal tried to prevent the sentence of the jirga from being carried out. When that failed he went to the media and repeatedly raised litigation in order to prove that the murders had taken place. [7] As a result, three of Afzal's brothers, who stayed behind in Gadaar, were murdered in January 2013 [11] and Afzal's house was firebombed. [4]

On 6 March 2019, he was shot dead in Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. [12] [13]

Convictions

In January 2014, six men from the Azadkhel tribe were convicted of murdering Afzal Kohistani's three brothers. One was sentenced to death and five others were sentenced to 25 years in prison, all were relatives of the girls from the video. Six other men, including the jirga chief who allegedly ordered the initial murders, were acquitted. [14] In 2017, the convictions of the six men were overturned by the high court. [13] [15]

In September 2019, the father of Bazeegha, the father of Sereen Jan and the brother of Begum Jan, were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Five other men were acquitted. [16] [4]

See also


Related Research Articles

A jirga is an assembly of leaders that makes decisions by consensus according to Pashtunwali, the Pashtun social code. It is conducted in order to settle disputes among the Pashtuns, but also by members of other ethnic groups who are influenced by them in present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akbar Bugti</span> Pakistani politician

Nawab Akbar Shahbaz Khan Bugti was a Pakistani politician and the Tumandar (head) of the Bugti tribe of Baloch people who served as the Minister of State for Interior and Governor of Balochistan Province in Pakistan. He also became minister of state for defence in the cabinet of Feroz Khan Noon. Earlier, he had also served as the Minister of State for Interior.

Vani, or Swara (سوارہ), is a custom where girls, often minors, are given in marriage or servitude to an aggrieved family as compensation to end disputes, often murder. Vani is a form of arranged or forced child marriage, and the result of punishment decided by a council of tribal elders named jirga. Some claim Vani can be avoided if the clan of the girl agrees to pay money, called Deet (دیت). Vani is sometimes spelled as Wani or Wanni. It is a Punjabi word derived from vanay which means blood. It is also known as Sak and Sangchatti in different regional languages of Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Shafilea Ahmed</span> Suspected honour killing of a 17-year-old British Pakistani girl in 2003

Shafilea Iftikhar Ahmed was a British-Pakistani girl who was murdered by her parents in a suspected honour killing at the age of 17, due to her refusal to accept an arranged marriage.

An honor killing, honour killing, or shame killing is the murder of an individual, either an outsider or a member of a family, by someone seeking to protect what they see as the dignity and honor of themselves or their family when they think that the individual has violated the reputation. Honor killings are often connected to religion, caste, other forms of hierarchical social stratification, or sexuality. Most often, it involves the murder of a woman or girl by male family members, due to the perpetrators' belief that the victim has brought dishonor or shame upon the family name, reputation or prestige. Honor killings are believed to have originated from tribal customs. They are prevalent in various parts of the world, especially in MENA countries, the Philippines, and the Indian subcontinent especially in India, Pakistan, Nepal, and sometimes in Bangladesh, as well as in immigrant communities in countries which do not otherwise have societal norms that encourage honor killings such as the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, France, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Spain and Ukraine. Honor killings are often associated with rural and tribal areas, but they occur in urban areas as well.

Samia Sarwar was a Pakistani woman who was shot dead in her lawyers' office in Lahore in an honour killing arranged by her parents.

Honour killings in Pakistan are known locally as karo-kari. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, over 470 cases of honour killings were reported in Pakistan in 2021. But human rights defenders estimate that around 1,000 women are killed in the name of honour every year. An honour killing is the homicide of a member of a family or social group by other members, due to the belief the victim has brought dishonour upon the family or community. The death of the victim is viewed as a way to restore the reputation and honour of the family.

Aiman Udas was a singer and songwriter in Peshawar, Pakistan. Udas had frequently performed on PTV television and AVT Khyber a private pashto channel in Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arshad Sharif</span> Pakistani journalist (1973–2022)

Arshad Sharif was a Pakistani journalist, writer, and news anchor. He specialized in investigative journalism and covered many political events in the country for national and international news organisations, including the United Kingdom. On 23 March 2019, he was awarded the Pride of Performance by the President of Pakistan Arif Alvi, for his contributions to journalism. He was shot and killed by police in Kenya on Oct. 22, 2022. A 592-page report by the Pakistani Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) revealed the killing to be a “planned targeted assassination," claiming that Kenyan police were "used as instruments." He was an outspoken critic of the Pakistani army.

Punishment for rape in Pakistan under the Pakistani laws is either death penalty or imprisonment of between ten and twenty-five years. For cases related to gang rape, the punishment is either death penalty or life imprisonment. DNA test and other scientific evidence are used in prosecuting rape cases in Pakistan.

Farzana Parveen Iqbal was killed on 27 May 2014 outside a court in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Her father, two brothers and former fiancé were among the nearly twenty attackers. Farzana, who had eloped with a man of her own choice, and was pregnant by him, was killed in the tradition of honour killing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tabassum Adnan</span> Pakistani womens rights activist

Tabassum Adnan is a Pakistani women's rights activist from the Swat Valley. She won the U.S. State Department's 2015 International Women of Courage Award for her efforts in seeking justice for Pakistani women.

Farzana Bari is a Pakistani feminist, human rights activist and academic who served as the director of the Gender Studies Department at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qandeel Baloch</span> Pakistani model, actress, feminist activist and social media celebrity

Fouzia Azeem, known by her stage name Qandeel Baloch, was a Pakistani model, actress, social media celebrity and activist. She was the country's first social media celebrity. Azeem rose to prominence due to her videos on social networks discussing her daily routine, her rights as a Pakistani woman, and various controversial issues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death of Samia Shahid</span> Suspected honour killing in Punjab, Pakistan

On 20 July 2016, Samia Shahid, a 28-year-old British Pakistani woman, was found dead in Punjab, Pakistan. Although involved in a dispute with her family, she had travelled to Pakistan alone as she had been told that her father was critically ill. Relatives claimed that she had died of natural causes, whereas her husband, Syed Mukhtar Kazim, believed that she had been murdered in a so-called "honour killing"; an autopsy and forensic examination concluded that she had been raped and strangled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kolai-Palas District</span> District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan

Kolai-Pallas District is a district in the Hazara Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It was a sub-division of the Kohistan district within the Hazara division till it attained the status of a separate district in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pashtun Tahafuz Movement</span> Social movement for Pashtun human rights

The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement is a social movement for Pashtun human rights based in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan. It was founded in May 2014 by eight students in Dera Ismail Khan. On 1 February 2018, the name of the movement was changed from "Mahsud Tahafuz Movement" to "Pashtun Tahafuz Movement."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dosso case</span> Famous constitutional case in Pakistan

Dosso v. Federation of Pakistan was the first constitutional case after the promulgation of Constitution of Pakistan of 1956 and an important case in Pakistan's political history. The case got prominence as it indirectly questioned the first martial law imposed by President Iskander Mirza in 1958.

Noor Mukadam was a Pakistani victim of murder. She was 27 years old and the daughter of a former diplomat, Shaukat Mukadam. She was murdered at a house in an upscale neighborhood, Sector F-7/4, of Islamabad, on 20 July 2021. Noor was held hostage for two days, tortured with a knuckleduster, then decapitated with a knife. Noor was raped before being murdered.

The inaugural meeting of the Pashtun National Jirga, also known as the Bannu Jirga, was held at Mirakhel Cricket Ground in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from 11 to 14 March 2022 to discuss the critical issues faced by the Pashtuns in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It was attended by about 5,000 delegates, including politicians, tribal chiefs, researchers, clerics, religious minorities, women and human rights activists.

References

  1. ↑ Khan, Rina Saeed (8 January 2013). "Murders in Paradise". DAWN.COM.
  2. ↑ "One video, seven lives". Daily Times. 6 September 2019.
  3. 1 2 Hashim, Asad (26 Mar 2019). "How a Pakistani whistle-blower was killed for 'honour'". www.aljazeera.com.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Three given life in 'honour killings' blood feud". BBC News. 5 September 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 "Four Kohistan women alive, says Farzana Bari". DAWN.COM. 7 June 2012.
  6. ↑ "Three sentenced in infamous Kohistan wedding video case". The Express Tribune. 5 September 2019.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dastageer, Ghulam (4 June 2019). "The bloodied aftermath of a viral video". Herald Magazine.
  8. ↑ Bhatti, Haseeb (2 January 2019). "Girls in 2011 Kohistan video were killed, Supreme Court told". DAWN.COM.
  9. ↑ Dawn.com, Naveed Siddiqui (21 October 2016). "Kohistan video case: Girls declared alive by SC had actually been killed, says Bari". DAWN.COM.
  10. ↑ Correspondent, The Newspaper's (4 December 2018). "Police claim two of Kohistan honour killing victims alive". DAWN.COM.
  11. ↑ "Kohistan video case: Relatives of three slain brothers stage protest". The Express Tribune. 8 January 2013.
  12. ↑ "Anger over 'honour killing' activist murder". BBC. 8 March 2019.
  13. 1 2 "'Honour killing' whistleblower shot dead". BBC News. 7 March 2019.
  14. ↑ "6 convicted for carrying out jirga orders". The Express Tribune. 30 January 2014.
  15. ↑ "Mukhtasir & 5 others. Vs. The State & Bin Yamin. - Judgment" (PDF). www.peshawarhighcourt.gov.pk. 28 March 2017.
  16. ↑ "3 men sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012 Kohistan video scandal case". DAWN.COM. 5 September 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.