A young woman was killed on the orders of a local jirga (council) in Kohistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, after visibly doctored images depicting her and another woman surfaced on social media, according to police.
The images in question showed the women with two young men of the same village in the Kolai-Palas district, which went viral on Facebook on November 22, 2023. One of the two women was murdered a day later allegedly by her father, while the other managed to save her life with the help of police in the wake of the ensuing threats.
However, a senior civil judge, after making sure the woman was in not critical danger, allowed her to return home with her father. The woman herself had assured the court there was no immediate threat to her life.
The women’s photos had been “Photoshopped” with those of the men, the report said. They were then uploaded as a video with a folk song playing in the background on a fake Facebook account to insinuate the subjects were in a “romantic relationship”, according to a latest report by Dawn.
Following the incident, law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)’s cybercrime wing, sprang into action. The police arrested three suspects in connection with the killing early this week, which included two paternal uncles of the victim.
The deceased woman’s father was also sent on a seven-day remand. The suspects are currently in police custody. The FIA is investigating the Facebook account to which the video was uploaded.
The case bears a grim resemblance to a similar incident that took place in the same area over a decade previously. The disturbing incident, which gained international coverage in 2012, involved the killing of at least five women.
Their killing was also linked to a viral video, which showed the deceased women cheering around a local man dancing, whose four brothers were later killed as well. Their fate had been sealed in a horrific decision by a local jirga, too.
The incident also serves as a poignant reminder of the critical threats to women persisting from tribal customs in the name of honour. The situation has further exacerbated with the weaponisation of technology and a glaring gap in education, let alone basic digital literacy.
