A horrific video has emerged on social media showing the cold-blooded murder of a young couple from Pakistan’s Balochistan province, who allegedly got married against their families in an “dishonour” killing. The viral footage shows a group of people arriving in an SUV and pickup trucks at a deserted area on the outskirts of Quetta, the provincial capital, where the couple is taken out of the vehicles.
The woman, with her head covered with a shawl, was given a copy of the Qur’an. She takes the religious text and walks ahead towards the deserted hill as a crowd looks on. Speaking in the regional Brahavi dialect, she asks a man, “Walk seven steps with me, after that you can shoot me.”
The man follows her to some distance, after which she says, “You are allowed only to shoot me. Nothing more than that.” It is not clear what the woman meant by “nothing more than that,” but the man who followed her took her instructions as a cue and aimed a pistol at her back. He then fires multiple rounds of shots from close range. After the third shot is heard, the woman falls on the ground, presumably dead.
More series of gunshots are heard, and then the video shows a bloodied man lying near the woman’s body, while a crowd cheers on. The incident reportedly happened three days before Eid al-Adha 2025 in May. After the video went viral, it caused outrage in Pakistan and beyond, with activists calling for swift justice in the case. They also call for laws against crimes which target women who dare to defy local traditions and cultures.
The local police have initiated a probe into the case and identified the couple as Bano Bibi and Ahsan Ullah.
So far, as many as 13 suspects have been arrested in the “dishonour” killing case. Police said the couple’s killing was ordered by tribal elder, Sardar Satakzai, after the woman’s brother approached him complaining about her marriage, which happened without his consent, according to a report by The Guardian.
The tribal leader and the woman’s brother were among the 13 people arrested, police chief Naveed Akhtar said.
Per the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) data, the country reported at least 405 “dishonour” killings in 2024, with activists estimating the real number to be much higher, as such cases are often not reported.
