A Pakistani legislator defended a decision by southwestern tribesmen to bury five women alive because they wanted to choose their own husbands, telling stunned members of parliament this week to spare him their outrage. "These are centuries-old traditions and I will continue to defend them," Israr Ullah Zehri, who represents Baluchistan province, said Saturday. "Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid." The women, three of whom were teenagers, were first shot and then thrown into a ditch. They were still breathing as their bodies were covered with rocks and mud, according media reports and human rights activists, who said their only "crime" was that they wished to marry men of their own choosing. Accounts about the killings have varied, largely because police in the tribal region have been unco-operative. Activists and legislators said a more thorough investigation needed to be carried out. The Asian Human Rights Commission, however, said the two older women may have been related to some of the teenage girls and were apparently murdered because they were sympathetic to their wishes. http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5h7Pn5kcHofIhfQ-H_xUR1-W6x4_w