Peshawar: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain has said the five Kohistani girls, claimed to have been killed in the name of honour, are alive and that the provincial government has found no evidence of their murder.
Iftikhar requested the Supreme Court to dispose of the suo motu notice it had taken over the issue and take action against those who had made allegations regarding the girls` murder, reports the Daily Times.
Five women, including an ``accomplice``, and two men were sentenced to death after a video emerged of them singing and clapping at a village wedding. The man and women were declared ``ghul`` (fornicators) and were accused of defying Kohistani customs and bringing shame to their community.
The minister said the fact-finding commission have recorded the statements of the parents and sister of one of the girls and of eight other locals and found no evidence that the girls had been murdered, adding that the video ``scandal`` was an attempt to disgrace the jirga system and Pakhtun traditions.
Iftikhar said tribal elders, parents of the girls and residents of the area had assured the provincial government that protection of the girls would be ensured.
He also said neither the local jirga nor any religious scholar in Kohistan had issued a decree to kill the girls.
ANI
