In a remote part of Pakistan, three teenage girls were reportedly buried alive in July by their tribe in an "honor killing" as punishment for attempting to choose their own husbands.

The girls, thought to have been between the ages of 14 and 18, were reportedly kidnapped by a group of men from their Umrani tribe, in the Nasirabad district. Two older women who tried to help them were also buried alive. They were reportedly driven to a rural area and then shot. Then, while still alive, they were dragged bleeding to a pit, where they were covered with earth and stones, according to an August 21 statement by a French human rights group, Human Rights Watch. Officials, speaking off the record, confirmed the killings, the Guardian reports.

During Pakistan’s Senate meeting last week, an opposition senator, Yasmeen Shah, accused the government of turning a blind eye to the honor killings and then trying to cover them up, The New York Times reports. Shah was interrupted by a Baluchistan senator, Israr Ullah Zehri, who defended honor killings as "our norms" and said they should "not be highlighted negatively."

"These are centuries-old traditions and I will continue to defend them," Zehri added over the weekend to the British Telegraph. Zehri also asked members not to politicize the issue.

In the end, however, the government moved to support a Senate resolution condemning the killings and seeking justice. And as of last week, police have arrested three people, including relatives, who may have been involved in the murders, reports BBC News and Fox News.

After the meeting, various critics told the press that the Pakistan People’s Party was trying to ignore the episode while trying to secure Baluchistan’s support for the leader of the party, Asif Ali Zardari, in Saturday’s electoral college vote for president.

"It is surprising that Pakistan People’s Party, which has been in the forefront of speaking against such issues in the past is now keeping mum," said Naeem Mirza of the women’s rights action group, Aurat Foundation, to the Daily Times.

Pakistan’s Daily Times reports that during the meeting, protestors temporarily prevented some senators from entering parliament house, shouting slogans against honor killings and calling the violence a "shameful act." The Daily Times reports that protestors raised signs that read: "Killing women is no honor."

"Honor killings" are not unusual, though, according to published figures from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan; 270 honor killings happened in 2006, 280 in 2007 and 107 thus far reported in 2008.

But this was the first report of burying victims alive.

"I was very shocked," Dushka Syed, who teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, said to The New York Times. "I am in my 50s and I don’t remember anything of this sort. We had heard of honor killings but the fact of burying people alive is unprecedented."