Ghor police save couple from being stoned

CHAGHCHARAN (PAN province, where another girl committed suicide, officials said.

Police received information that a boy and a girl were being stoned in Payen Tagab area on the outskirts of Chaghcharan, the provincial capital, on Saturday afternoon, the deputy police chief said.

The two were rescued by a joint Afghan National Army and police force, Zainul Abidin said, adding the couple loved each other and wanted to marry against their parents’ will.

Opposition to their marriage led the pair to elope, but later elders encouraged them to return home, the police official said. Relatives allegedly locked the boy and girl to wait for the Taliban’s decision on their fate.

Tribal elders who helped the couple return home opposed the idea of stoning, but residents and the Taliban insisted on punishing them. As security officials arrived in the area, the Taliban fled, according to Abidin. Later, the two tied the knot with the help of police.

Resident Ahmad Ali said the girl was a nurse in a local hospital and that her parents did not want her to marry the boy she loved. “The two decided to run away,” he added.

Meanwhile, a 14-year-old girl apparently committed suicide in Laal Wasar Jungle district. Abidin said the reason was still unknown, but a police team had been dispatched to the area to probe the incident.

The incident comes more than a week after a 13-year-old girl hanged herself to death elsewhere in the province.

frm/ma/mud

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