Question of honour: Teenage girl killed for marrying outside clan

KARACHI / JHOL: A 17-year-old girl was allegedly buried alive in the Bheel tribe’s graveyard some two months after she married a man of her choice. The graveyard is located in Hakim Khan Murree village in Sinjhoro taluka, Sanghar district. Police officials say the process to exhume the girl’s body is currently under way. The girl, identified only as Sughra, was killed because she dared to marry someone outside her clan. Jhol SHO Ghazi Khan Rajar, however, refuted claims that the girl was buried alive. Speaking with The Express Tribune, he said she was ‘slaughtered’ before she was buried and an exhumation will be carried out on the court’s orders. The girl’s father, Shafi Muhammad Brohi, lodged an FIR, Number 13/2014, against his two cousins at the Jhol town’s police station on Thursday night and police have arrested Ghulam Haider Brohi and Nazar Mohammad Brohi, Sughra’s uncles. Sughra married Muhammad Ali Khaskheli two months ago. Following the involvement of the elders of the Khaskheli clan, Sughra was told to return from Badin, where the couple was living, to her parent’s village 15 days ago. Sughra’s uncles approached her father, requesting that the girl be turned over to them for a few days in their village. When Sughra’s father visited the village a few days later, he was told that his daughter had been killed. Locals say Sughra tried to escape before she was murdered. Published in The Express Tribune, March 15th, 2014.