Two stoned to death for alleged adultery in Pakistan

Islamabad, April 2: A woman and her alleged paramour were stoned to death by militants in Pakistan's Mohmand tribal agency after a "qazi court" found them guilty of adultery. This was the first instance of a case of adultery resulting in 'rajam' or stoning to death in the federally administered tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

Earlier, couples found guilty of adultery by militants or tribesmen were executed by firing squads.

The woman, identified as Shano from the Mohmand Agency, had allegedly eloped with Daulat Khan Malik deenkhel of Bara a fortnight ago. The couple was stoned to death in the Khwezai-Baezai area on Monday, the ‘Dawn’ newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Asad, a spokesman for local militants, claimed that Shano was a married woman living in Peshawar's Deen Bahar colony. A complaint was received from her family that Malikdeenkhel had abducted her though it was later reported that she had eloped with him, he said.

Some members of the Pakistani Taliban movement "captured" the couple at Nowshera in the North West Frontier Province when they were returning from Karachi. The qazi found the couple guilty of adultery and sentenced them to death by stoning. The sentence was carried out in Khwaezai-Baezai, 40 km west of the Mohmand Agency's headquarters of Ghalanai. The woman's body was buried in the same area by some locals. The man's body was taken to hospital and handed over to his relatives.