Afzal Kohistani: 'Honour killing' whistleblower shot dead

7 March 2019

The man at the centre of a campaign to expose one of Pakistan's most notorious "honour killings" cases has been shot dead nearly seven years after he brought it to national attention. M Ilyas Khan reports from Islamabad.

A video showing two men dancing as four women sing a wedding song to the beat of clapping would pass as normal anywhere in the world.

But this scene, filmed in 2011 in rural Pakistan, led to chilling consequences. The women in the video, and a young female member of the family who was also at the scene, are believed to have been killed by male relatives for "breaching their honour".

Afzal Kohistani, a brother of the men in the video, has now been killed too. His death comes amid a blood feud that has also seen three of his other brothers killed.

Mr Kohistani was shot dead in a busy commercial area of the north-western city of Abbottabad on Wednesday night, police said, quoting witnesses to the killing. He suffered multiple injuries and died on the spot, they said.

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