Man arrested for slaying four daughters in "honour killings"

MULTAN, Pakistan, Monday (AFP) A man allegedly killed his four daughters by slitting their throats while they slept in their home in eastern Pakistan, after the eldest married a man of her choice, police said.

"The man came to a police station to court arrest after killing his four daughters Saturday," senior police officer Mukhtar Iqbal Tikka told AFP.

Nazeer Ahmed, who worked as a labourer near Burewala, some 110 kilometres (68 miles) east of Multan, had resented his eldest daughter's love marriage and killed the three others, fearing they might follow her, Tikka said.

Ahmed apparently told police his eldest daughter Muqadas Bibi, 25, had married a man of her choice against his wishes and her act had tarnished the family's honour so he plotted to kill her and his other daughters. While she was asleep with her sisters Bano Bibi, 12, Sumera Bibi, 8, and Humera, 6, he allegedly cut their throats with a sharp knife, Tikka said.

About 4,000 people, mostly women, have been killed in conservative rural areas of Pakistan in recent years in the name of protecting family honour.

Many others have been raped or burnt with acid under codes of tribal justice. President Pervez Musharraf early this year signed into law a bill introducing the death penalty for honour killings.