Pakistan 'honour killing' probe

Pakistani police have exhumed the body of a woman after the president ordered an investigation to find out if she was the victim of an honour killing.

Medical officers examined the body of Afsheen Musarrat, 22, at a cemetery in Marisahoo village, southern Punjab.

She died in mysterious circumstances after marrying a fellow student without her parents' consent.

Hundreds of women in Pakistan are killed each year by relatives for offending the family honour or Islam.

Police officers surrounded the cemetery while the medical team took samples from the body for forensic testing in Lahore to establish the cause of death.

One doctor told Reuters: "We have found marks of torture on the body. Half of the body was blue, suggesting electrocution."

The news agency said other doctors concurred, but the full post-mortem results would be released later.

Accountable

President General Pervez Musharraf personally ordered an inquiry into Ms Musarrat's death three days ago, after human rights workers said she was the victim of an honour killing.

Police said Ms Musarrat, a postgraduate student at the Bahauddin Zakariya University in the southern city of Multan, had married a fellow student without her parents' consent.

Afterwards, she was allegedly pressured by her paternal grandparents into an arranged wedding with a cousin.

She deserted him last month and left the ancestral village to rejoin her fellow student in Rawalpindi near Islamabad.

She died less than two weeks ago after reportedly returning to the family home following an offer of reconciliation by her grandfather.

The official APP news agency said President Musharraf had ordered police to ensure the culprits were held accountable if her death turned out to be an honour killing.

Women are killed by relatives in so called honour killings for offences deemed to have dishonoured the family or Islam. These include adultery, marrying without the family's consent or failing to offer an adequate dowry.

The authorities say 62 cases of honour killings have been reported to the police this year alone in the southern Punjab.