So-called "honour" killings

Monday's Guardian carried a report of a so-called "honour" killing in the Baluchistan district of Pakistan. Three teenage girls were buried alive for the henious crime of wanting to choose their own husbands. It seems some of their relatives, who protested, were also killed. No one has been arrested, and it is unlikely anyone will. There are reports that government vehicles were used to abduct the girls, and the murders were overseen by the brother of a (provincial) government Minister. Incredible, male politicians in parliament are claiming that these barbaric murders are "part of our custom". According to the Guardian: "In Pakistan's national parliament, an MP from Baluchistan, Israrullah Zehri, said on Friday that "this action was carried out according to tribal traditions", a view backed up by some other male lawmakers, who attacked a woman senator who had raised the case". Cultural relativism? Maybe not.