MULTAN // A Pakistani mother of three and the man she was allegedly having an affair with were hanged from a tree on Thursday.
Police blamed her husband, brother and father for carrying out the killings.
The lynchings occurred in the village of Chak 56, about 55 kilometres north-east of the central city of Multan.
Hundreds of so-called “honour killings”, in which the victim, usually a woman, is killed by a male relative or relatives for bringing shame to the family are carried out in Pakistan every year.
“A woman and her alleged boyfriend were hanged to death by the woman’s father, brother and husband after the woman was caught on a date with her boyfriend in the backyard of her house,” said Sardar Dogar, senior officer at the local police station.
The victims were identified as Khalida Bibi, who was in her late twenties, and Mukhtiar Muhammad, who was 19.
Mr Dogar said all three suspected murderers were arrested and had confessed to their crimes, adding the woman’s husband had brought the alleged affair to the attention of the others.
The incident was confirmed by other officials at the police station. “They were beaten up before being strung up in the tree and hanged,” another said.
Pakistan's law minister in July announced that bills aimed at tackling "honour killings" and boosting rape convictions would soon be voted on by parliament, following a number of high-profile cases, including the killing of social media starlet Qandeel Baloch by her brother.
Dubai resident , Samia Shahid, a British Pakistani, was also murdered in a suspected honour killing in July. She was strangled during a visit to Pakistan to see relatives. Her second husband, who had lived with her in Dubai for two years, believes her family orchestrating the killing.
The perpetrators of such killings often walk free because they can seek forgiveness for the crime from another family member.
No date has been set on when the new law, which aims to do away with the clemency option, will be tabled in parliament.
Observers said the government was fearful of blowback from the religious right, which believed being able to forgive a murder in exchange for blood money was an essential component of Islamic law.
* Agence France-Presse
