At least a dozen people have been murdered by their relatives in a small town in south-western Pakistan over the past two weeks on the pretext of defending family honour, raising worldwide condemnation. 

The latest wave of the so-called honour killings has hit the town of Dera Murad Jamali in the province of Balochistan, police official Sonhra Khan told dpa.

A married 18-year-old woman became the latest victim on Monday, when she was allegedly killed by her father-in-law on suspicion of having an affair, said Khan, who is investigating the case.

The police have arrested the suspected perpetrator, who confessed to having killed both the woman and the person suspected of being her lover in order to restore his family’s honour, Mr Khan said.

Dera Murad Jamali, a remote town with around half a million inhabitants, had for years been notorious for honour killings.

But the frequency of the latest spate of killings had surprised law enforcement and shocked locals, another police official,  Ahmed Ali said.

At least 27 of the 49 reported incidents of honour killings in Balochistan last year took place in the town, according to Allauddin Khilji, the local head of the Aurat Foundation, a civil society organisation working to promote the rights of women.

Mr Khilji attributed the disproportionate number of such killings to Balochitstan’s tribal society, a low prosecution rate and a broken justice system.

In Pakistan, around 1,000 women and girls were killed by their relatives every year, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

(dpa/NAN)