KARACHI: A married couple were shot dead by “unidentified gunmen” on the outskirts of Karachi on Wednesday, police officials said. A Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) official said that the victims, Amir, 32, and Mukhtiba, 24, were residents of Orangi Town who had wed about two years ago against the will of their families.
While this particular “honor killing” crime was reported to the police and investigations are underway, many similar cases go unreported in this part of Karachi.
One incident that initially went unreported, in the spring of 2013, involved the decision of a makeshift jirga, an alternative method of dispute resolution by the local community that is adopted in Pashtun-dominated areas of the country. A local militant commander convened the gathering at a house in Qaimkhani Colony Ittehad Town, a Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) stronghold and a no-go area for law-enforcement agencies. The issue the commander was asked to “settle” was a dispute involving a couple and the “honor” of their family.
After a brief, one-sided hearing, the commander handed down his judgment: the couple were condemned to death by stoning. Fazlur Rehman, an eyewitness and relative of the woman who was killed, said the couple was taken into the yard, buried up to their chests and stoned to death.
“It is the responsibility of the state to look after the women who suffer after members of their family are thrown behind bars for committing such gruesome killings,” said Mahnaz Rehman, the resident director of Aurat Foundation, pointing out that that most of these women are housewives who rarely leave their homes. “We have seen how women suffer when male members of their family are arrested in cases of honor killing.”
She added: “Jirgas should not be allowed to function.”
An operation began in Karachi on September 5, 2013, in which officers from law-enforcement agency the Pakistan Rangers conducted targeted raids in Sultanabad, Manghopir, Ittehad Town, Sohrab Goth, Janjal Goth, Gulshan-e-Buner and other areas where the Taliban had taken refuge. Saqib Sagheer, a journalist who covers crime and militancy for a leading Urdu daily, said the Taliban was swiftly and successfully weeded out in these regions.
Despite the Taliban being driven out, the menace of honor killing persists.
On August 14, 2017, 15-year-old Bakhtaj tried to elope with 17-year-old Ghani Rehman. When the families found out, they decided to reach a peaceful settlement and allow the couple to marry quickly. This was unacceptable to Sartaj Khan, a close relative of the TTP’s Khalid Omar Khorasani. Khan assembled a jirga in the eastern Landhi area of Karachi, attended by nearly 40 people. The aim of the meeting was to foil the settlement reached by the families.
Aslam Shah, a neighbor of Bakhtaj, said: “The families, after tracing the teenage couple, decided to get them married, but Sartaj Khan, when informed, gathered elders from Safi tribe, a sub-tribe hailing from Mohmand Agency.”
The male relatives of the girl were the first to implement the jirga’s death sentence and electrocuted her. The boy’s father resisted the decision but, said Shah, “he was threatened by Sartaj Khan, who told him that he would ask Khorasani to blow their houses.”
Fighting back tears, Rehman’s sister told of the family’s ordeal and the final moments she spent with her brother.
“Da Jee [one of the several titles used for father in Pashto] asked the boy to dine with him one last time,” she said. “But Ghani Lala [a title used for older brother] said he was not hungry. Da Jee had his dinner after the night-time prayer. Meanwhile, Lala turned to us, he dug his hands into his pockets and pulled out a few packets of Tasty Gold Supari [areca nuts] and gave one to each of us. He also left one for our older sister, who was not present at the time.”
A few hours later Rehman was electrocuted.
According to the First Information Report (FIR) filed by police on the killings, a copy of which was made available to Arab News, the jirga head, the fathers and uncles of the couple, and 30 to 35 other people were present at the time of the executions.
Shah alleged that the Shah Latif Town Station House Officer, Amanullah Marwat, took a bribe to free the jirga members. Marwat denies this claim and said that the FIR was only an initial report. After investigations, he said he found out that only five people took part in the jirga.
While the court voiced its dismay over the police report in the Landhi honor killing case, another incident emerged. According to reports, the police arrested nine people accused of involvement in the killing of a couple from Kohistan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The pair, Husna and Hadi, had fled to Karachi from Kohistan after they willingly married each other.
Experts said the levels of honor killings in Pashtun and Sindhi areas is higher than in other communities mainly because of the low rate of literacy.
“Convening a jirga in Sindh is illegal,” said Asad Iqbal Butt, vice chairperson of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s Sindh chapter. However, a jirga gives added clout to its participants, making it a very lucrative business in the southern province, he added. Landlords, who are political leaders, use them to acquire votes, and those who are not politicians provide those political leaders with votes in return for money, he said.
“The government has shown zero tolerance toward jirgas in Sindh after the High Court banned all trials conducted under the jirga system throughout Sindh in April, 2004,” said Rasheed Channa, a spokesman for the chief minister Sindh.
Butt said that in 2016, 103 honor killings were reported in Sindh, of which 90 occurred in Karachi during the first three quarters of the year.
“While this may be seen as an increase in number, I see it as an increase in the reporting of such incidents,” he said. “In the past, most cases of honor killing would go unreported. Now the trend is changing. It is changing for the better.
“An informed society and better laws can help us prevent the menace in the future.”
Karachi’s deadly dishonorable secret
Karachi’s deadly dishonorable secret
- Experts say the incidence of honor killing in Pashtun and Sindhi areas is higher than in other communities, mainly because of the low literacy rate
- An informed society and better laws can help curb the practice
US arrests, deports hundreds of ‘illegal immigrants’ — Trump press chief
- 538 illegal immigrant criminals arrested, “hundreds” deported by military aircraft
- Trump had promised crackdown on illegal immigration during election campaign
WASHINGTON: US authorities arrested 538 migrants and deported hundreds in a mass operation just days into President Donald Trump’s second administration, his press secretary said late Thursday.
“The Trump Administration arrested 538 illegal immigrant criminals,” Karoline Leavitt said in a post on social platform X, adding “hundreds” were deported by military aircraft.
“The largest massive deportation operation in history is well underway. Promises made. Promises kept,” she said.
Trump promised a crackdown on illegal immigration during the election campaign and began his second term with a flurry of executive actions aimed at overhauling entry to the United States.
On Thursday Newark city mayor Ras J. Baraka said in a statement that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents “raided a local establishment... detaining undocumented residents as well as citizens, without producing a warrant.”
The mayor said one of those detained during the raid was a US military veteran, “this egregious act is in plain violation” of the US Constitution.
An ICE post on X said: “Enforcement update ... 538 arrests, 373 detainers lodged.”
New Jersey Democratic Senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim said they were “deeply concerned” about the Newark raid by immigration agents.
“Actions like this one sow fear in all of our communities — and our broken immigration system requires solutions, not fear tactics,” they said in a joint statement.
Trump has vowed to carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history,” impacting an estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States.
On his first day in office he signed orders declaring a “national emergency” at the southern border and announced the deployment of more troops to the area while vowing to deport “criminal aliens.”
His administration said it would also reinstate a “Remain in Mexico” policy that prevailed during Trump’s first presidency, under which people who apply to enter the United States from Mexico must remain there until their application has been decided.
The White House has also halted an asylum program for people fleeing authoritarian regimes in Central and South America, leaving thousands of people stranded on the Mexican side of the border.
Earlier in the week the Republican-led US Congress green-lit a bill to expand pretrial incarceration for foreign criminal suspects.
Trump frequently invoked dark imagery about how illegal migration was “poisoning the blood” of the nation, words that were seized upon by opponents as reminiscent of Nazi Germany.
With severe interpretation of Islamic law, Taliban restrict women’s lives in Afghanistan
- Many Taliban edicts are not followed in rest of Islamic world and have been condemned by Muslim leaders
- Taliban first banned girls from public secondary classes in 2022 followed by universities the next year
HONG KONG: The Taliban authorities that rule Afghanistan have imposed a severe interpretation of Islamic law on the population, heavily restricting all aspects of women’s lives.
This week, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor said he was seeking arrest warrants against senior Taliban leaders over the persecution of women, a crime against humanity.
The government claims it secures Afghan women’s rights under Sharia law, but many of the edicts are not followed in the rest of the Islamic world and have been condemned by Muslim leaders.
The United Nations has called it a “gender apartheid,” and no country has formally recognized the government since they swept to power in a lightning but largely bloodless military offensive in 2021.
Taliban authorities banned girls from public secondary classes at the start of the new school year in 2022.
A year later, universities were also closed to women.
The last options for education — midwifery and nursing — were banned from teaching women late last year.
Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls and women are barred from education and the move has been widely criticized by Muslim leaders — including the Saudi-based Muslim World League.
Taliban authorities have made it increasingly difficult for women to work in a bid to keep them segregated from men.
While they held positions throughout the civil service of the foreign-backed government ousted by Taliban insurgents, women have been mostly been fired, forced to stay home, and have had their pay slashed.
Officially, women can no longer work for NGOs and the United Nations apart from in education and health, although the ban has not been strictly enforced.
Women are allowed to work from home or in women-majority businesses, such as textiles.
Private businesses can employ women, but in offices that are supposed to be segregated.
In cities, where women once generally already wore modest clothing and headscarves, huge billboards and posters on shop windows order them to cover their hair, faces and their bodies with a long cloak and face mask.
Women rarely appear on television, and many journalists have been pushed off screen.
They are banned from public spaces such as parks and gyms, while baths and salons have been closed down.
Women traveling long distances must be accompanied by a male chaperone.
In one of the latest orders, women cannot sing or recite poetry in public, and their voices and bodies must be “concealed” outside the home.
The Ministry of Women’s Affairs was shut down and their offices taken over by the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the Taliban authority’s morality police.
WHO chief to cut costs, reset priorities after US exit, document shows
- The United Nations confirmed on Thursday that the United States was due to withdraw from the WHO on Jan. 22, 2026.
GENEVA/LONDON: The World Health Organization will cut costs and review which health programs to prioritize after President Donald Trump announced he was withdrawing the US from the agency, the WHO’s chief told staff in an internal memo seen by Reuters.
Trump made the move on the first day of his second term in office on Monday, accusing the UN health agency of mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic and other international health crises.
“This announcement has made our financial situation more acute...,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in the memo dated Jan. 23. It said the WHO planned to significantly reduce travel expenditure and halt recruitment, except for critical areas, as part of cost-saving measures.
A WHO spokesperson confirmed the memo — first reported by Reuters — was authentic but declined to comment further.
The United Nations confirmed on Thursday that the United States was due to withdraw from the WHO on Jan. 22, 2026.
The United States is by far the WHO’s biggest financial backer, contributing around 18 percent of its overall funding. WHO’s most recent two-year budget, for 2024-2025, was $6.8 billion.
The memo said the WHO had already worked to reform the organization and change how it is funded, with member states increasing their mandatory fees and contributing to its investment round launched last year.
But it said more funding would be needed and costs would have to be cut simultaneously. This would include making all meetings virtual by default without exceptional approval, limiting the replacement of IT equipment, and suspending office refurbishments unless linked to safety or already approved cost-cutting.
“This set of measures is not comprehensive, and more will be announced in due course,” the memo reads, adding that the Geneva-based WHO would do everything it could to support and protect staff.
“As always, you make me proud to be WHO,” the memo ends.
Afghan women’s group hails court’s move to arrest Taliban leaders for persecution of women
- ICC chief prosecutor has requested arrest warrants for two top Taliban officials, including leader Hibatullah Akhundzada
- Taliban have barred women from jobs, most public spaces and education beyond the sixth grade
An Afghan women’s group on Friday hailed a decision by the International Criminal Court to arrest Taliban leaders for their persecution of women.
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced Thursday he had requested arrest warrants for two top Taliban officials, including the leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Since they took back control of the country in 2021, the Taliban have barred women from jobs, most public spaces and education beyond sixth grade.
In a statement, the Afghan Women’s Movement for Justice and Awareness celebrated the ICC decision and called it a “great historical achievement.”
“We consider this achievement a symbol of the strength and will of Afghan women and believe this step will start a new chapter of accountability and justice in the country,” the group said.
The Taliban government has yet to comment on the court’s move.
Also Friday, the UN mission in Afghanistan said it was a “tragedy and travesty” that girls remain deprived of education.
“It has been 1,225 days — soon to be four years — since authorities imposed a ban that prevents girls above the age of 12 from attending school,” said the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan Roza Otunbayeva. “It is a travesty and tragedy that millions of Afghan girls have been stripped of their right to education.”
Afghanistan is the only country in the world that explicitly bars women and girls from all levels of education, said Otunbayeva.
Frenchman on Indonesian death row to be sent home
- Senior law and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra signed a deal for the transfer of Serge Atlaoui
- Atlaoui’s fate upon his return to France remains unclear
Jakarta: A Frenchman on death row in Indonesia since 2007 for drug offenses will be sent back to his home country, an Indonesian minister said Friday.
Indonesia has in recent weeks released half a dozen high-profile detainees, including a Filipino mother on death row and the last five members of the so-called “Bali Nine” drug ring.
Senior law and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra signed a deal for the transfer of Serge Atlaoui, a 61-year-old arrested in 2005 at a drug factory near Jakarta, in a video call with French Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin.
“I think this is a process that has been quite long... but under the current government the negotiation has been relatively swift,” Yusril told reporters at a press conference alongside French ambassador to Indonesia Fabien Penone.
The deal caps months of talks for the transfer of the Frenchman, who will likely be repatriated on February 4, Yusril told AFP on Friday.
Atlaoui is currently suffering from an illness in a Jakarta prison and receives weekly treatment at a hospital, raising the stakes of his transfer.
“It is obviously a great relief to finally learn of the agreement concluded between France and Indonesia for the transfer of Serge,” Atlaoui’s French lawyer Richard Sedillot told AFP.
“These last few days have been difficult, since the conclusion of the agreement has been postponed several times,” he said.
Atlaoui’s fate upon his return to France remains unclear.
The father of four long maintained his innocence, insisting he was installing machinery in what he thought was an acrylics plant.
He was initially sentenced to life in prison, but the Supreme Court in 2007 increased the sentence to death.
Activists campaigning for an end to the death penalty hailed the agreement.
“We are delighted with this transfer decision... and to know that Serge Atlaoui can now return to France after everything he has experienced,” Raphael Chenuil-Hazan, executive director of NGO Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM), told AFP.
He said Atlaoui “has largely served his sentence and well beyond that” and called for the French government to grant him clemency.
Atlaoui was held on the island of Nusakambangan in Central Java, known as Indonesia’s “Alcatraz,” following the death sentence, but he was later transferred to the city of Tangerang, west of Jakarta.
He was due to be executed in 2015 alongside eight other drug offenders, but won a reprieve after Paris stepped up pressure, with Indonesian authorities agreeing to let an outstanding appeal run its course.
Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws and has executed foreigners in the past.
At least 530 people are on death row in the Southeast Asian nation, according to data from rights group KontraS, mostly for drug-related crimes.
Indonesia’s Immigration and Corrections Ministry said more than 90 foreigners were on death row, all on drug charges, as of early November.
Last month, Filipino inmate Mary Jane Veloso tearfully reunited with her family after nearly 15 years on Indonesia’s death row.
The Indonesian government recently signalled it will resume executions, on hiatus since 2016.
