Pakistani lawmaker defends honor killings

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A Pakistani lawmaker defended a decision by northwestern tribesmen to bury five women alive because they wanted to choose their own husbands, telling stunned members of Parliament this week to spare him their outrage. "These are centuries-old traditions, and I will continue to defend them," Israr Ullah Zehri, who represents Baluchistan province, told The Associated Press on Saturday. "Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid." The women, three of whom were teenagers, were first shot and then thrown into a ditch. They were still breathing as mud was shoveled over their bodies, according media reports, which said their only "crime" was that they wished to marry men of their own choosing.