In the Anwarak area of Daghari, Balochistan—just 30 kilometers from Quetta—a horrific event was displayed in the last week of June 2025. A young couple who had married and fled their hometown about a year and a half earlier were brought back with a false promise: that their families would accept them again.

But this reconciliation was a trap. Once home, they were dragged before the Sardar—the tribal chief of Daghari—who ruled they must be killed to “restore the family’s lost honor.”

Viral Video:

An investigation by a local journalist from Balochistan revealed that such incidents are not isolated. He stated, “No, this is not the first incident. These killings happen regularly in areas like Naseebabad, Balochistan. If I am honest, not even a week or ten days pass without someone being killed on such allegations. There are many such cases.”

The brutal aftermath was caught on video, which went viral. Only then did the government act, arresting 11 people, including the tribal chief.

A postmortem confirmed the severity of the violence: the woman was shot seven times, while the man was shot nine times.

Although in 2016, Pakistan passed a law to make honor killings “non-compoundable”—meaning families could no longer legally forgive the killer. On paper, it was progress. In reality? The law is bypassed through tribal systems, local police complicity, and cultural silence.

However, in these tribal zones, customary law trumps constitutional law. “Justice” is dispensed by sardars and jirgas, not courts. And women’s lives are treated like family property—expendable, disposable.

The Bigger Picture: Five Years of Honor-Based Violence

According to data from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and other sources:

• 2020: Approximately 430 reported cases (363 women, 148 men)
• 2021: About 478 cases, with 42 reported in Balochistan alone
• 2022: 520 cases (323 women, 197 men)
• 2023: 490 cases nationally; by mid-year, 145 women were recorded, extrapolated to around 430 women for the full year
• 2024: 346 honor-related murders reported between January and November, the majority of women

In total, around 2,264 known cases were reported during these five years—most of them involving women.

However, these numbers represent only reported cases. Underreporting is massive, and many NGOs estimate that between 5000 to 10,000 women are killed annually in Pakistan alone in honor-related crimes.

If Pakistan fails to draw a line after Anwarak, more Innocents will be lured home to die, more tribes will play god, and more women will vanish beneath unmarked soil—without even a name on the record.