Pakistan women's deaths condemned

Pakistan's Senate has called for action to be taken against men alleged to have buried alive five women in the western province of Balochistan in July.

Reports from the district of Nasirabad said the women were killed because three of them wanted to get married without the approval of their families.

Last week two senators caused uproar by suggesting that the killings were a matter of tribal tradition.

Women's rights groups have expressed outrage over the incident.

According to reports from Balochistan, three women between 18-20 years of age from the Imrani tribe were abducted by tribesmen who had heard about their plans to marry without family consent.

Two older women who tried to help the would-be brides were also kidnapped.

The reports say the women were all shot, thrown into a ditch and then buried, even though they were still alive.

On Friday a female senator raised the case in the national parliament in Islamabad.

She was criticised by two male senators, who said she should have gone to Balochistan first to examine people's lives their before raising the killings in the Senate.

Now the Senate has passed a formal resolution on the deaths.

"This house condemns the brutal murder of five women in Balochistan's Nasirabad district and calls for strong action to be taken against the culprits," the statement said.

It called on the Senate's human rights committee "to produce a comprehensive report on the incident in one month".