i posted the original story on september 1st

now there are many more details. not that many MORE details are needed. the fact three teenaged girls were buried alive by the village men and the act later DEFENDED by the village men is detail enough to make one's skin tighten. what else did we find out?

well we found out a taxi driver who drove the girls to another town (so they could meet their boyfriends/intendeds) told the village men where the girls went and what they planned to do. we found out two adult women who were related to the girls were shot to death while they begged for mercy for the girls. we found out the reporter who broke this story was threatened by the village men. we found out the village government was part of the mob of men who murdered the three girls and two adult women

oh WHY did the village men kill the girls? because the girls decided to chose their OWN husbands instead of the ones their fathers had chosen FOR them!


HONOR KILLINGS PERSIST IN 'MAN'S WORLD'

By NBC News’ Shahid Qazi and Carol Grisanti

BABAKOT, Pakistan – In a tangle of bushes and trees outside a remote village in southwest Pakistan, six close male relatives of three teenage girls dug a 4-foot wide by 6-foot deep ditch, on a sweltering night in mid-July, and allegedly buried the girls alive.

The girls' crime: they dared to defy the will of their fathers and the customs of their tribe and choose their own husbands. The mother of one of the girls and the aunt of another were shot and killed while begging for the girls’ lives, according to local media reports........

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The girls were dragged into vehicles and taken to the end of a back road in Babakot accompanied by two female relatives, according to media reports. The men dug ditches and ordered the girls to be thrown in. When the female relatives saw the ditches, they tried to intervene and begged for the girls’ lives, according to local media reports.

There was "pandemonium at the site," according to the findings of the Asian Human Rights Commission, and a tribal elder gave orders to shoot the two older women. They died immediately and were thrown into the wide ditch. The three girls, who were wounded in the gunfire but still alive, were then thrown in and covered with sand and mud.

In Pakistan’s rural areas, male tribal councils decide the fate of women who bring dishonor to their family. In 2004, President Pervez Musharraf outlawed the practice, known as "honor killings" – violations of the law carry the death penalty. But the law is impossible to enforce because this centuries old custom for dealing with women is protected by powerful feudal landlords and tribal elders.

Mastoi, the local reporter, told NBC News that "powerful people" from the Umrani tribe had threatened him and warned him of consequences if he continued to report the story. He said that everyone in the village knew what happened and shortly after the murders, a couple of shepherds in the area had taken him to see the actual burial site. "Now everyone is too afraid to talk," he said.........