Abbottabad : Police in Pakistan’s Abbottabad city have said that the chilling murder of a 16-year-old girl who was set on fire in Makool village is linked to orders given by a local jirga last week.
A 15-member jirga called by the Makool village councillor Pervez ordered teenager Amber, be set on fire as punishment for helping her friend escape the village to marry of her free will, police said, reports Dawn.
After the a six-hour meeting ended on April 28, the girl was taken to an abandoned house from her home and was later drugged, killed, and placed in the backseat of a parked van.
The van was then doused with petrol and set on fire.
Police recovered the charred body of the teenage girl from Donga Gali on Friday and also found the drugs from the abandoned house and the can of petrol used to start the fire.
Amber’s body was tied to the seat of the vehicle, which was parked at a bus stop in the village.
Her body has been shifted to Ayub Medical Complex for an autopsy.
She was later as the daughter of Riasat, a labourer who works in Balochistan’s Gadani area.
According to District Police Officer (DPO) Khurram Rasheed, the couple with the help of the girl and a driver named Naseer left Makool for Abbottabad on April 23. Later, a jirga was called at Naseer’s home when the couple could not be found.
The case will be tried by an Anti-Terrorism Court and “exemplary punishment” will be recommended by the police added Rasheed.
Meanwhile, 13 members of jirga have been arrested by the police so far.
A jirga is a local community council composed of elders and notables and a traditional dispute resolution forum.(ANI)