Four Pakistani sisters kill themselves because father couldn't afford dowries

Four Pakistani sisters killed themselves after a row with their father who could not afford dowries for them to get married, officials said on Friday.

The women threw themselves into a canal after arguing with their father in Mailsi, a town in the rural southern part of Punjab province. A fifth sister was pulled alive from the water.

“A poor farmer, Bashir Ahmed Rajput, could not marry his five daughters because he had no money to offer dowry,” Malik Daud Hasnain, a senior police official said.

“After an argument on the issue on Thursday, his daughters became desperate and jumped together into a water canal.”

The women were aged 45, 43, 38, 35 and 31.