Pakistan police have arrested 15 'tribal elders' for ordering the murder of a 16-year-old girl for allegedly helping a couple elope. The girl was burnt alive last week in the vehicle which the couple used to escape. The couple, both from the same village had broken the tradition and ran away together, with the help of the teenager.

Police said the crime was an act of honour killing as the village council deemed the girl's action had brought 'irreparable damage to the village's reputation'.

What is even more shocking is that the girl's mother and brother were also present at the meeting which ordered the punishment and reportedly agreed to the order.

The duo have also been arrested by the police.

The girl's mother told police her daughter had helped a couple from the nearby village of Makol elope, in defiance of cultural norms.

"The jirga took her to an abandoned place outside the village and made her unconscious by injecting her with some drugs. Then they seated the girl in a van in which the couple had escaped. They tied her hands to the seats and then poured petrol on her and the vehicle," district police chief Saeed Wazir said.

Even though the tribal councils known as 'Jirga' have no legal standing they are notorious for running kangaroo courts, especially in the interior areas of Pakistan.