Five women 'killed by tribal elders for dancing and singing with men at wedding party in remote Pakistani village'

Four women who joined in the celebrations are thought to have paid with their lives.

They are feared to have been the victims of honour killings after dancing with men.
In scenes from the wedding, they are pictured in heavy robes and headdresses, sitting on the floor while singing and clapping.

Two men were apparently dancing next to them, while out of shot another person captures the moment on a mobile phone video camera.

Soon afterwards, the women were said to have been shot or had their throats cut for breaking local customs that prevent them from dancing with the opposite sex.
Another woman, said to have been ‘an accomplice’, was also allegedly executed. Last night officials in Pakistan were travelling to the remote north-western village of Kohistan to investigate the claims.

A tribal council of clerics – known as a Jirga – reportedly condemned the women to death for ‘fornication’ and staining their families’ names.

Their actions were said to have brought shame on the community, which frowns on men and women dancing together or fraternising at all.
But local police say the footage does not show the men and women in the same room together. Three teams of police have visited the area, which is two days’ walk from the nearest road, while local government officials have denied the claims, saying the women are alive. 
The two men dancing in the video, named as brothers Bin Yasir and Gul Nazar, appeared in court yesterday charged with creating conditions for tribal violence.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court has asked for the women to be produced before them in the capital, Islamabad, but it was told the weather was too bad for them to make the 100-mile journey.
The chief secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the province where the incident is said to have happened, argued that local laws did not allow women to travel in male company or face questions from a male judge.