Outrage in Pakistan After a Viral “Honour Killing” Video Arrests a Tribal Leader and 12 Others

A viral video depicting a couple being executed in Balochistan due to a tribal “honor” verdict caused widespread indignation.

The savage murder of a couple in Pakistan’s southwest region of Balochistan has led to the arrest of at least 13 people, including a local tribal leader, in what officials and rights organizations are referring to as a “honour killing.”

Bano Bibi and her husband Ehsan Ullah were probably slain in May close to Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, according to police, but the crime didn’t come to the attention of the country until a horrific video of the killing went viral online.

In a secluded, sandy location, the pair is surrounded by armed men in the video. After slumping to the ground, Bano is pushed away from a car before both are shot repeatedly.

In the first police report, 15 people are listed as unidentified and eight suspects are named. The search for Bano’s brother, who is thought to have been personally involved, is still ongoing.

Sardar Sherbaz Khan, the tribal head, allegedly deemed the couple’s connection “immoral” and ordered their execution after they were brought before him, according to the FIR. More arrests are anticipated as investigations continue.

Honor killings, or murders committed under the guise of preserving tribe or familial “honor,” are a recurring issue in South Asia, particularly when it comes to love weddings. Such atrocities are frequently unreported or unpunished.

Rights groups denounced the murder.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan general secretary Harris Khalique stated, “The state has failed to protect its citizens and instead shields feudal and tribal elites who uphold medieval practices.”

The Sustainable Social Development Organization reports that in 2024, there were over 32,000 incidences of gender-based violence documented throughout Pakistan, including 547 honor killings in Balochistan with only one conviction.

The killings are a part of a broader trend, according to women’s rights campaigner Sammi Deen Baloch: “In Balochistan, women are murdered for love, disappeared for protest, and buried under layers of tribal authority and state-backed silence.”

“The state’s repression and tribal violence trap Baloch women.” While one murders in secret, the other does so in the name of the law.

She went on to say that the administration only took action because the video caused a public uproar.