Pakistani Girl Killed For Eyeing Boy, Mother Tells BBC It Was Girls 'Destiny To Die This Way'
A Pakistani couple is being accused of killing their 15-year-old daughter because she disgraced the family by looking at a boy.
According to the Associated Press, Mohammad Zafar and his wife Zaheen, allegedly killed their daughter by pouring acid on her - - an act that reportedly follows a Pakistani trend called “honor killings.”
The “honor killing” is often a result of women marrying or having relationships not approved by their families or because they are perceived to have somehow dishonored their family.
The parents recounted the Oct. 29 incident in a recent jailhouse interview with the BBC. The father said the girl had turned to look at a boy who drove by on a motorcycle, and he told her it was wrong.
"She said 'I didn't do it on purpose. I won't look again.' By then I had already thrown the acid. It was her destiny to die this way," the girl's mother told the British broadcaster.
Footage of the interview shows the couple standing behind bars, but in separate adjoining jail cells.
During the interview, the father describes an incident in which the couple was scrutinized for a similar situation with their older daughter, but did not go into specific detail.
The AP is reporting that Pakistani officials initially said the attack occurred because the girl supposedly had an affair with a boy.
According to numbers obtained by the newswire, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan reports that at least 943 women were killed in the name of honor last year. Only 20 of the women were reported to have been given medical care before they died, the report said. The real toll is believed to be higher because many of the crimes go unreported.
"Throughout the year, women were callously killed in the name of honor when they went against family wishes in any way, or even on the basis of suspicion that they did so. Women were sometimes killed in the name of honor over property disputes and inheritance rights," according to the report obtained by AP.
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