A woman and a man were shot dead in what police described as an apparent "honour" killing in the Pheshi Bando area of Wadh, in Khuzdar district, officials said.

Police reached the site soon after being alerted, cordoned off the area, took the two bodies into custody and collected evidence from the scene.

The victims were identified as Muhammad Ishaq Bugti, and a woman of the Jatoi tribe whose full name police have withheld. Both had been shot. According to police, the man was originally from Dera Allah Yar and the woman from Dhadar, and both had been living in Wadh.

The bodies were shifted to the Wadh hospital for medico-legal formalities. Police said preliminary information suggested the two had been killed in the name of "honour," and that an investigation was under way.

Girl killed in Sehwan over marriage of her choice

In a separate case reported from neighbouring Sindh, a 19-year-old girl was allegedly killed by her father over an accusation of karo-kari the regional term for an "honour" killing.

The victim, named in local reports as Shumaila Rahpoto, was killed in the Khairo Dero area, which falls within the jurisdiction of the Balawalpur police station in Sehwan. Reports said the dispute stemmed from her marrying, or wishing to marry, of her own choice.

A crime that persists despite the law

Killings carried out in the name of "honour" remain widespread across Pakistan. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) recorded at least 470 such killings in 2025, up from 405 the year before, with women the overwhelming majority of victims and close male relatives ; fathers, brothers and sons, the most common perpetrators.

A 2016 law removed the provision that had allowed a victim's family to pardon the killer, making a life sentence mandatory. But rights groups say enforcement remains weak, particularly in rural areas where such crimes are often settled outside the formal justice system and where the relatives meant to seek justice are frequently the ones responsible.

Published in Balochistan Dispatch, August 2nd , 2026