Pakistan woman beaten, burned to death for refusing proposal

ISLAMABAD – A Pakistani police official says a female teacher has died after being beaten and set on fire for refusing a marriage proposal from a man twice her age.

Mohammad Ali said Wednesday that the woman, who was around 19 years old, was attacked two days earlier near the hilltop town of Murree, just outside the capital, Islamabad.

He says that after being brought to a hospital in Islamabad, the woman told police that relatives of the school principal attacked her for refusing the proposal from his son.

Such attacks are not uncommon in Pakistan, where nearly 1,000 women are killed each year in so-called “honour killings” for allegedly violating conservative norms on love and marriage.