A tribal ‘jirga’ or council in northern Pakistan has condemned four women and two men to death for “staining the honour” of their families by singing and dancing at a wedding, according to a media report today.
The men and women from Hazara division in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province were allegedly caught on videotape singing and dancing at a wedding in violation of the tribal custom of gender segregation, The Express Tribune reported.
The men managed to flee before the jirga could act against them. The jirga has tasked 40 young men to kill the men and women.
“A tribal jirga has declared them Ghul (fornicators). And they might be killed any time,” said Muhammad Afzal, the elder brother of two men condemned to death.
Afzal said the women allegedly sang ‘mahiyas’ or folk songs at the wedding and danced in the presence of ‘na-mehram’ or those who one can marry in Islam.
The wedding took place two months ago in Bando Baidar village. Some guest filmed the women and men singing and dancing with a mobile phone. The amateur video was later sent to the women’s relatives, the report said.
The tribe to which the women belong was angered by the video. It convened a jirga of elders a month ago and they found the women and men guilty of violating tribal and Islamic norms by singing and dancing together.
Update
KOHISTAN: Four women and two boys were sentenced to death by a jirga (assembly) over group dance at a wedding ceremony in Kohistan, SAMAA reported on Monday.
Two boys managed to flee the area.
According to reports, four women and two boys had danced together at a wedding ceremony in Sirtay Village of Kohistan two months ago. On this, villagers held a jirga, which awarded death sentence for all four women and two boys.
All four women, two of them married, had been locked in one room.
According to Hazara Commissioner Khalid Umarzai, eight elders of the villages assured the police that these women would not be harmed.
He said a police team has reached the village to probe the issue.
Secular Pakistan 
So very sad…