Islamabad: A woman and her alleged paramour were stoned to death by militants in Pakistan's Mohmand tribal agency after a "qazi court" found them guilty of adultery.

This was the first instance of a case of adultery resulting in rajam or stoning to death in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas bordering Afghanistan.
Earlier, couples found guilty of adultery by militants or tribesmen were executed by firing squads. The woman, identified as Shano from the Mohmand Agency, had allegedly eloped with Daulat Khan Malikdeenkhel of Bara on March 15.

The couple was stoned to death in the Khwezai-Baezai area on Monday, the Dawn newspaper reported today.

Asad, a spokesman for local militants, said Shano was a married woman living in Peshawar's Deen Bahar colony. A complaint was received from her family that she had been abducted by Malikdeenkhel though it was later reported that she had eloped with him, he said.

Some members of the Pakistani Taliban movement "captured" the couple at Nowshera in the North West Frontier Province when they were returning from Karachi, Asad said.

The qazi found the couple guilty of adultery and sentenced them to death by stoning. The sentence was carried out in Khwaezai-Baezai, 40 km west of the Mohmand Agency's headquarters of Ghalanai.

The woman's body was buried in the same area by some locals. The man's body was taken to hospital and handed over to his relatives.
Source : PTI